
g.. L(lS6/S 

Book. 



.JUA 



Copyright 1^? 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE EDUCATION OF THE 
WAGE-EARNERS 



A Contribution toward the Solution of 

THE Educational Problem 

OF Democracy 



BY 



THOMAS DAVIDSON 

Author of "The Philosophical System of Antonio Rosmini Serbati, 

"The Parthenon Frieze and Other Essays" "Aristotle and Ancient 

Educational Ideals," " The Education of the Greek People and 

its Influence on Civilization," "Rousseau and Education 

according to Nature," "'A History of Education," etc. 



Edited with an Introductory Chapter 

BY 

CHARLES M. BAKEWELL 



GINN & COMPANY 

BOSTON • NEW YORK • CHICAGO • LONDON 



SEP 23 1904 

^ Oooyrfrht En»rv 
GLA^ ^ XVo. No. 
^ COPY B 



/ 






Copyright, 1904 
By CHARLES M. BAKEWELL. 



ALL KIGHl'S KkSERVED 



\ 



o 



\ 



GINN & COMPANY -CAM- 
BRIDGE -MASSACHUSETTS 



PEEFACE 



This volume tells how a few lectures that the late 
Thomas Davidson delivered before the wage-earners on 
the East Side of New York upon the problems which 
the Nineteenth Century hands on to the Twentieth led 
to the formation of a class in History and Social Sci- 
ence, and how this rapidly developed into an incipient 
" Breadwinners' College," and at the same time became 
the center of a general social movement for the better- 
ment of mankind. It is the story of an experiment in 
the education of the wage-earners which is very far from 
finished, the record of a movement still in process of 
formation. It introduces nothing sensational or dra- 
matic, offers no easy cure for social ills ; it simply tells 
how the efforts of one man to find among the wage- 
earners themselves the forces that are tending toward 
righteousness and truth, and to unite and direct these 
to a common educational and moral end, were crowned 
with a measure of success that promises well for the fu- 
ture, and is rich in suggestions for the social reformer, 
as well as for all who are interested in educational 
problems. 

Mr. Davidson, through a combination of happy cir- 
cumstances, opened up a mine of enthusiasm and of 
power for righteousness and self-improvement latent in 



iv PREFACE 

the hearts and minds of those whom weary souls and 
patronizing reformers are wont to. call " life's disinher- 
ited ones." And the work that he accomplished is 
unique among modern social movements in that it is 
a growth almost wholly nourished by the inner vital- 
ity of the developing group. In most of our efforts 
to improve the condition of the struggling and less 
favored masses, the wealthy contribute, but with their 
gloves on, the wise aid, but ex cathedra^ and with a 
tinge of condescension. At best, noble and devoted 
men and women, renouncing comfort and ease, cast in 
their lot with the poor, and with a fine sympathy and 
loyal devotion become their true friends and inspiring 
companions. In so doing they discover many practical 
ways of introducing social reforms, and by carrying 
these out, as well as by their example, undoubtedly 
accomplish much good. Yet few, if any, even of these, 
are aware of the latent power in the hearts and minds 
of those whom they are helping ; and none, so far as I 
am aware, have made it their main concern to find a 
way to seize upon this power and to develop and direct 
it so that it may do its appointed work, and that every 
individual as he makes progress in his own develop- 
ment may become forthwith, according to his lights, 
an enthusiastic and efiicient helper of others still less 
favored. Few, if any, have a strong enough belief in 
the intellectual capacity of those whom they are help- 
ing, to employ with them the only sound educational 
method, which never attempts to make a present of the 
truth, but ever seeks to elicit it from the self-active 
minds of the taught. 



PREFACE V 

The agitator and the demagogue, and to some extent 
even the social reformer, carry their audiences by means 
of flattery, by appealing to prejudice, and by dealing in 
vague and ambiguous, if high-sounding, phrases. These 
are the means by which the unenlightened mind is most 
easily swayed. We cannot hope to stem the tide of error, 
which these modern sophists cause, by persuading sober- 
minded scholars to give occasional lectures to the work- 
ingmen. The scholar scorns the sophist's methods, and 
so he cannot strike home until much preliminary work 
has been done to lead the workingmen to that habit of 
mind that puts calm, clear-sighted, and unprejudiced 
reason at the helm. Even with those who have had 
the advantage of a good common-school education, with 
trained students in the colleges, nothing worth while 
can be accomplished by lectures unless the student 
follow them up with hard and persistent intellectual 
effort of his own. Is it not absurd to suppose that 
those who lack such training can gain truth more easily, 
can dispense with the hard and slow and painful intel- 
lectual discipline that is the condition of all clear think- 
ing? Must we not either frankly confess that the 
great body of workingmen must remain simply " the 
masses," shut out from the light of truth, doomed to 
walk in the darkness of confusion and prejudice, swayed 
by caprice and blind feeling ; or else face the stern fact 
that there is no royal road to learning for them any 
more than for others, — and then do our duty by sup- 
plying a sound education that shall be within the reach 
of all who are capable and willing to put forth the effort 
necessary to win it ? 



Vi PREFACE 

Thomas Davidson appreciated these things, and it is 
this that makes the record that these pages contain, 
fragmentary as it is, worthy of the consideration of all 
who are interested in social questions, and of all who 
are seriously concerned for the welfare of our country. 

Mr. Davidson believed in the workingmen and work- 
ingwomen whom he taught. Many of the things that 
he said to his class, and to its individual members, — 
and illustrations may be found in the letters printed in 
this volume, — a superficial and cynical observer would 
pronounce sheer flattery. But they were not that. Mr. 
Davidson had a way of seizing what was best in his 
friends, the ideals which in their best moments they 
longed to be, and of naming them after these and deal- 
ing with them accordingly. This is doubtless one 
secret of his success : he made the young men and 
young women feel that the ideal which they were to 
live up to was their own ideal, their own truer selves; 
and they were thus put on their mettle to live up to 
his judgment of them. In this way they acquired a 
confidence in themselves born of self-respect, and at 
the same time became more cautious in their judg- 
ments. Much of his success was no doubt due to his 
exceptionally strong and magnetic personality, to his 
generous enthusiasms, and to his tireless and unbounded 
loyalty and devotion to his band of wage-earners, — for 
he gave himself unsparingly for them ; much, too, to the 
fact that he was working mainly with Jews, who, beyond 
any other race, seem to have a way of keeping the inner 
fires burning in spite of most untoward outer circum- 
stances. But the main thing, after all, was that he had 



PREFACE vii 

discovered a way to bring out and utilize, as the force 
and life-blood of his undertaking, the energy that was 
in the wage-earners themselves as organized and directed 
by their own highest ideals. This is the most encour- 
aging thing about his work. If we can only succeed 
in this we need not despair of popular education, for 
we shall at last have found a power adequate to the 
great task. 

I have thought it best to add an introductory chapter, 
giving a brief account of the author and of his demo- 
cratic philosophy. This, and the following chapter on 
"The Task of the Twentieth Century," are reprinted, 
with the kind consent of its editor, from Tlie Internor 
tioTial Journal of Ethics. In the third chapter, which 
discusses " The Educational Problems which the Nine- 
teenth Century hands over to the Twentieth," the idea 
of a Breadwinners' College is developed. This is the 
lecture that precipitated the movement which the next 
chapter, " The History of the Experiment," describes. 
This was the last thing that Mr. Davidson wrote, and 
it was left unfinished. It is published as he left it In 
the fifth chapter are printed in full most of the weekly 
lettei-s that Mr. Davidson wrote to the central Saturday 
Evening Class during the summers of 1899 and 1900, 
These show more clearly than anything else could the 
relation that existed between him and his pupils, and 
the spirit that underlay his work with them. I have 
added a final chapter, continuing Mr. Davidson's narra- 
tive from the point where it breaks off, and giving some 
account of the movement as it has been carried on by 
these workingmen and workingwomen themselves in 



viii PREFACE 

the four years that have elapsed since his death. I 
have to thank the members of the class for their kind 
cooperation in supplying material for this portion of 
the book, and, especially, Mr. Louis Dublin, Mr. S. E. 
Frank, and Mr. Morris R. Cohen. The bulk of the 
sixth chapter is taken bodily from the account sent me 
by Mr. Cohen. I wish also to acknowledge my indebted- 
ness to my friend Professor W. A. Neilson, who has 
kindly read most of the book either in manuscript or 
in proof, for his valued advice and encouragement. 

In conclusion I would suggest that a reader who 
is desirous of coming without delay to the story of 
Mr. Davidson's actual experiment in the education of 
the wage-earners turn at once to Chapter IV. 

THE EDITOR. 

Laurel Run, August 5, 1904. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 
I. Introductory : Thomas Davidson and his Phi- 
losophy. (By the Editor) 1 

II. The Task of the Twentieth Century ... 24 

III. The Educational Problems set by the ISTine- 

teenth Century to the Twentieth .... 53 

IV. The History of the Experiment 96 

V. The Underlying Spirit as shown by the Let- 
ters written by Mr. Davidson to his Class 124 

VI. The Vitality of the Ideal as shown by the 
Life of the Movement after the Death of 
its Founder. (By the Editor) 216 



THE EDUCATION OF THE 
WAdE-EARNERS 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTORY: THOMAS DAVIDSON AND HIS 
PHILOSOPHY 

By the Editor 

When on the 14th of September, 1900, after an 
unsuccessful operation, Thomas Davidson died in a 
hospital at Montreal, the world lost a wise and good 
man whose work and influence were out of all propor- 
tion to his general reputation.^ A writer in the London 

1 The list of Mr. Davidson's published books [which conveys no 
adequate impression of the scope of his powers and influence] includes : 
" The Philosophical System of Antonio Rosmini Serbati" (London, 
1882) ; "The Parthenon Frieze and Other Essays" (Boston and New 
York, 1886) ; " Scartazzini's Handbook to Dante, with Notes and Addi- 
tions " (Boston, 1887) ; "Prolegomena to Tennyson's 'In Memoriam ' " 
(Boston, 1889); "Aristotle and Ancient Educational Ideals" (New 
York, 1892) ; "The Education of the Greek People, and its Influence on 
Civilization" (New York, 1894); "Rousseau and Education accord- 
ing to Nature " (New York, 1898) ; " A History of Education " (New 
York, 1900). He contributed to Mind, The Philosophical Review, The 
International Journal of Ethics, The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 
The Educational Review, The Forum, and other periodicals, numerous 
articles and reviews. At the time of his death he was engaged upon 
a history of Scholastic Philosophy in v^^hich he proposed to gather up 
the results of his lifelong study in this field. Unfortunately but two 
chapters had been completed. 

1 



2 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

Spectator recently declared that at the time of his death 
Thomas Davidson was one of the twelve most learned 
men in the world. How that may be I do not know. 
Certain it is that his profound and varied learning, his 
portentous memory, his skill in using all languages, and 
his familiarity with the best that is to be found in all 
languages — particularly in the lines of philosophy, social 
science, and literature — were to those of us younger 
men who came to know him almost appalling. He was 
learned, and knew that he was learned, above the meas- 
ure even for learned men. Yet withal he was modest, 
avoiding rather than courting personal fame. Indeed, 
he might in truth have said, with Thomas Aquinas, 
that his motto was amo nesciri. 

With all his learning Mr. Davidson w^as, however, 
the most human of men, approachable by all, old and 
young, high and low, learned and ignorant; generous 
to a degree in his relations with his fellow-men, giving 
of himself without stint to all who sought his help or 
counsel whenever he thought he could be of any use to 
them in helping them to a higher life. An Adirondack 
farmer, whose place he had bought, once remarked of 
him that his hand was stretched out to meet you 
farther away than that of any man he ever knew. 
This was true, literally as well as figuratively. Any 
one who has had the good fortune to visit him in his 
Adirondack home, where he conducted a summer school 
of the culture sciences, will ever remember with the 
glow of a larger human kindliness his reception at 
Gienmore. It was Mr. Davidson's custom to have the 
large lecture-hall bell rung to announce the arrival of 



THOMAS DAVIDSON AND HIS PHILOSOPHY 3 

an expected guest. At that signal he would at once 
drop all work and hasten down from his den in the 
birch grove some two hundred feet above the main 
buildings. I can see him now hurrying down the hill, 
his right hand stretched out to greet me when still a 
good fifty yards away, his left waving his tam-o'-shan- 
ter as he shouts his cheery welcome. The warm hand- 
shake that followed, the sincere welcome beaming from 
every feature of his honest, earnest, sunny, intelligent 
face, made one feel at once that Glenmore was home. 

Mr. Davidson was the most intense man I have ever 
known, intense in his loves and in his hates, both for 
persons and for doctrines. It was part of his philosophy 
that morality consisted, as the Greeks had said, in 
knowing how rightly to love and how rightly to hate, 
and, he would have added, in having abundant affec- 
tions to distribute. He firmly believed that the stronger 
a man's passions the greater were his possibilities 
for virtue and victory, if only they could be rightly 
directed. Eousseau once wrote, " II n'y a que les dmes 
de feu qui sachent vaincre.^' Mr. Davidson was one of 
those dmes de feu, and he held himself in check by 
an iron will, and knew how to conquer. No obstacles 
were for him insurmountable. Finding in the course 
of some of his investigations in Scholastic Philosophy 
that he needed a more thorough acquaintance with 
Arabic than he could acquire from the books, he 
dropped all other work and went to Cairo to live with 
the Arabs, that he might learn to speak their tongue. 
He was then just fifty-four years of age. His last pub- 
lished book was written at a time when he was unable 



4 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

to get more than three consecutive hours of sleep, and 
when every waking moment was filled with intense 
pain. Yet his cheerful but profound optimism finds in 
this book perhaps its noblest expression, and not once 
does his personal suffering break through to color a 
single phrase. 

Mr. Davidson was absolutely unsparing of himself 
and of his friends, downright and straightforward and 
uncompromising. He could never quite forgive a man 
who had once told him a lie or proved himself ungen- 
erous. He was ever bitter in his denunciation of all 
forms of Pharisaism and of the pride of mere respect- 
ability, wliich consisted, he held, solely of negative 
virtues. Comfort worshipers, sensuous dalliant souls, 
and all time-servers were his special aversion. But a 
keen sense of humor, a hearty, jovial nature, and a broad 
philosophy saved him from the snares of asceticism and 
left him, with all his vigorous and uncompromising 
standards, one of the most sociable of men. He always 
sought out in all men traces of genuine human worth, 
and he knew how to look behind appearances for the 
real substance of worth. Consequently his friends were 
frequently of rough exterior and rougher manner, and 
he was often found with publicans and sinners. And 
to his friends he remained ever loyal. 

Mr. Davidson was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 
October 25, 1840. He received his education in the 
common schools of his native town, and in the Univer- 
sity of Aberdeen, where he acquired, as a second nature, 
the habit of exact scholarship. What this training 
meant for him may be inferred from the fact that he 



used to say, with a full knowledge of the school sys- 
tems of all lands, that if he had to be educated over 
again and could choose his schools and masters, he 
would go through precisely the same training that he 
had enjoyed. When still a very young man he came 
to America and, after a brief sojourn in Canada, made 
his way to Boston. Later he removed to St. Louis, 
where he taught for a time in the public schools and 
where he made the acquaintance of the famous little 
group of St. Louis philosophers, most of whom became 
his life friends. But Mr. Davidson was a born dissenter 
who could not and would not fit into any niche. He 
chafed under all restraint, and was not entirely contented 
until he finally found his liberty in the life of a free 
lance, lecturing, writing, teaching private classes, and 
in this way earning his modest livelihood while hold- 
ing himself responsible to himself alone and to his own 
lofty ideals. Opportunities for university preferment 
came, but he refused to surrender one jot of his free- 
dom. His mode of life gave him a good six months 
of every year for leisurely study and frequent opportu- 
nities for long visits to Europe, as his studies might 
call for learning that could there best be pursued. 
Besides, he had a decided distrust of our universities, 
which, he held, were still suffering from medisevalism 
in methods and habits, from formalism, and from an 
absence of entire freedom and candor. Moreover, he 
did not regard the students in the universities to-day 
as the most promising material to work with, hold- 
ing that most of them were under the dominion of 
purely frivolous aims, and that even of the more serious 



6 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

students the majority were animated by no higher motive 
than the desire to fit themselves to find a comfortable 
berth for life. In few, if any, could he find an ardent 
desire for knowledge for its own sake and for the sake 
of the light it could throw on the purpose and meaning 
of life. Only in the last years of his life did he succeed 
in finding a class of students with whom he could work 
with entire satisfaction and enthusiasm. When he did 
find them, with characteristic fervor he gave the best 
of himself and of his time and energy in working for 
and with them,, asking no other compensation for his 
services than honest and faithful work on the part of 
his students. These were the students he found amongst 
the breadwinners in the East Side of New York. After 
working with them for two years he wrote : " No one 
who has ever taught a class of intelligent breadwinners 
will return willingly to academic teaching. It would 
be well if all college students were engaged in the 
practical duties of life." Of this work, which at last 
put his democratic philosophy to the test of practice, 
this book is the partial record. Before passing on to 
this record, let us consider briefly the philosophical 
attitude upon which that work was founded. 

We cannot better approach the study of Mr. David- 
son's philosophy than by noting in advance the tem- 
per of its author's mind as it revealed itself in strong 
antipathies to some of the more popular currents of 
contemporary thought. Hegel, with his denial of the 
principle of contradiction, he held to be the " prince of 
confusionists." Historically, Hegel's philosophy seemed 
to him mainly significant as the reductio ad absurdu7n 



THOMAS DAVIDSON AND HIS PHILOSOPHY 7 

of modern subjectivism, that is to say, of the modern 
effort to define the forms of thought so exhaustively 
that nothing is left for the material of thought. At 
the same time, however, he held that Kant had rendered 
inestimable service in pointing out that the real mean- 
ing of Hume's skepticism was that it had conclusively 
proved that the mind is essentially active and therefore 
does not receive any ready-made impressions, but exer- 
cises from the first a determining power in the very 
creation of the world that it^knows ; that, consequently, 
no concepts taken either from common sense or from 
time-hallowed philosophies can be accepted without 
being subjected to the most careful scrutiny. Hegel, 
however, had too easily concluded, from finding the 
importance of the part played by the thinking activity, 
that thought was the last term in the description of 
reality, and so his philosophy gave us a cobweb world, 
an arid and unreal system which, logically carried out, 
could but lead to pantheism, from which disastrous 
result it was saved in the letter but not in truth by 
Hegel's skill in juggling with such terms as freedom, 
God, Trinity, and the like, wherein was displayed his 
ingenuity in pouring new wine into old bottles rather 
than his zeal in the cause of truth. 

The agnostic's position came in for equal condemna- 
tion. His whole difficulty comes from the fact that he 
starts out with a supernaturalistic notion of reality, 
with a conception, that is, of the absolutely real as, 
whatever else it may possibly be, never a possible 
object of experience. The agnostic's conclusion, there- 
fore, that reality is unknowable, is a trivial one, or, to 



8 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

pnt it otherwise, is simply another way of stating his 
fundamental premise, which premise, in its turn, is a 
downright prejudice. 

Those who gloried in the confusion of philosophies 
and philosophers, in order that they might point a 
moral as to the presumption and imbecility of mere 
reason, whether their Pyrrhonism were proclaimed in 
the interest, of piety, as a preparation for faith, or in 
the interest of a supposed freedom that could not 
brook even the constraint of reason, or in the interest 
of a nature worship like that which found expression 
in Rousseau in some of his more turgid moods, and 
frequently in Wordsworth in such passages as — 

One impulse from a vernal wood 

May teach you more of man, 
Of moral evil and of good, 

Than all the sages can, 

— in short, the defenders of all forms of mere senti- 
mentalism and irrationalism were treated continually 
and effectually with the scorn that they deserve. 
After all, there is no blasphemy worse than that which 
spends itself in dragging in the mire the noblest faculty 
with which man is endowed, the faculty which distin- 
guishes him from the animals and enables him to lead 
a moral life. Not that the doctrine to which one must 
give adherence is a " cold intellectualism," as it is called. 
No, the knowledge that is the aim of our rational 
endeavor is, as Mr. Davidson once wrote, " knowledge 
armed with moral efficiency, knowledge which com- 
mands respect and reverent submission. . . . What 



THOMAS DAVIDSO:^^ AND HIS PHILOSOPHY 9 

turns intellect into a spring of action and freedom is 
not its power of distinguishing things, but its power 
of seeing that things have different values, that one 
thing is better than another, and, therefore, to be pre- 
ferred to another. . . . This is what is meant by the 
old saying that not only the thoughts of the head but 
the thoughts of the heart also must be pure." ^ 

Perhaps of all the irrationalists, the philistine misolo- 
gists, the conventionally respectable men who are supe- 
rior to philosophy, seemed to him the most immoral 
and pernicious influence of the time, — the men who 
contemptuously deny "that every man and woman 
ought to be a philosopher." 

So much does the old habit of authority and convention in 
matters of intelligence and morals still prevail, so much are men 
still the slaves of these, that philosophy, which alone can make 
men free, is still looked upon with suspicion and ill-concealed 
contempt. One continually hears, " But you can't expect every 
man to be a philosopher. It takes a long time to learn philos- 
ophy, and people generally have other things to attend to. They 
must sow and reap, buy and sell, eat and drink, and they must 
have a good time. Philosophy is dull, solemn business." The 
implication, of course, is that sowing and reaping, buying and 
selling, and so on, are more important things than philosophy, 
and this, indeed, is what the world of our time practically believes. 
The general belief is that the end of life is to acquire material 
wealth and have a " good time," which means to satisfy the nat- 
ural inclinations, which our education accordingly fosters and 
pampers. I say this is the result of a failure to recognize that 
the aim of man's life is man's perfection, and that perfection 
consists in perfect insight, perfect love, and perfect freedom. As 

1 " Intellectual Piety," pp. 4, 5. (An address published separately 
in pamphlet form.) 



10 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

soon as men see this clearly they will no longer look down upon 
philosophy, which is but another name for loving insight, one of 
the essential elements in human perfection. To despise philos- 
ophy is to despise spiritual perfection, for clear knowledge is one 
of the elements of that perfection. There is no duty more incum- 
bent upon any human being than to know, unless it be the duty 
of loving with divine love everything known, in proportion to its 
worth, and sternly refusing to be guided by personal feelings and 
inclinations. A man or woman who is not a profound thinker, 
seeing the things of the world in their true ideal proportions, 
and acting accordingly, is a mere dependent, half -enslaved crea- 
ture, whatever amount of so-called culture, refinement, and kind- 
ness he or she may have. Such a person is still a slave to 
authority and convention, a mere play actor in life, bound to 
play a traditional, unreal part, without any of the glorious liberty 
of the children of God, of them who see the ])ivine face to face, 
and, in the light thereof, all things in their true worth.i 

We are dealing, it is plain, with the philosophy of a 
man who has banished entirely from his world things- 
in-themselves and unknowables, and, therefore, material- 
ism, supernaturalism, and all other forms of agnosticism, 
but who at the same time believes that modern idealisms, 
by singling out one aspect of experience, namely the 
formal or universal aspect, and regarding it exclusively, 
have thereby started upon a path that cannot but lead, 
when logically carried out, to pantheism and the evil 
type of mysticism. 

We can now easily conclude this preliminary orienta- 
tion of Mr. Davidson's philosophy by the mere enumer- 
ation of the objects of his special admiration. These 
were iEschylus, Socrates, Aristotle, Joachim of Flores, 
St. Thomas Aquinas, Dante, Kant (with reservations), 

1 Op. cit. 



THOMAS DAVIDSON AND HIS PHILOSOPHY 11 

Rosmini, Goethe (especially the "Faust"), and Tennyson 
(especially " In Memoriam "). And of all these undoubt- 
edly the first place was held by Socrates, the genuinely 
religious dissenter, the confident believer in human 
reason and almost the only true individualist ; the man 
who, moreover, justified in his life as well as in his 
philosophy his claim to our reverence for these things. 
One more thing must be borne in mind in our effort 
to understand this philosophy, and that is the predom- 
inance of the practical interest throughout its author's 
life. He comes to his theoretical speculations because 
of vital practical needs, as could not but be the case 
with one of his intense temperament and strict Pres- 
byterian upbringing. But he was a born dissenter, and 
he firmly believed that the times were religiously and 
socially out of joint, and that it was his duty, as it was 
that of every man, to do his best to set them right. 
With this end in view he took an active interest in the 
founding of the London Fabian Society. The name of 
the society is significant. Its determined aim was the 
gathering and disseminating of information that might 
lead to the amelioration of social conditions, but it was 
to be committed to no theory in advance. Later, as the 
organization drifted toward outright socialism, Mr. David- 
son lost interest in it. Socialism seemed to him to be 
indeed the logical enough outcome of the view of life 
that places its highest values upon wealth, position, and 
physical comfort ; which is, however, a complete inver- 
sion of true values. Having its aim centered in these 
external goods, a reform that looks to them primarily 
must be mechanical and cramping to the life of the 



12 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

spirit. He saw, in other words, with profound truth that 
in social reform the end to begin with is always the indi- 
vidual, and, in the individual, his education; that, fur- 
thermore, the aim of this education should be to help its 
possessor to estimate things more nearly at their true 
worth and to give him the strength to rise above the rule 
of animality and rightly distribute his affections. 

Mr. Davidson also founded the Fellowship of the 
New Life, first in London, afterward in New York. 
This society was organized for mutual help in the cul- 
tivation of the life of the spirit, for mutual aid in the 
discovery of real values, and in living accordingly. It 
was not a church, not even a Unitarian Church, for it 
had not the vestige of a creed, unless, indeed, it is hav- 
ing a creed to maintain that there is a higher life for 
man and that it behooves him earnestly to seek to know 
what that life is and then to lead it. This organization 
might be called a sort of Fabian Society of the Spirit. 
The difficulty with a society of this character is that it 
is apt to degenerate into sentimentalism, " to mistake " 
(in the strong language of a recent German writer) " fine 
feelings for argument, and the expanded bosom for the 
bellows of divinity." Therefore it, too, soon proved un- 
satisfactory, and both of these practical efforts toward 
reform convinced Mr. Davidson that the one thing need- 
ful above all else in our day is a definite gospel that 
rests upon, and needs, no authority save the approval 
of individual reason, a gospel that must therefore also 
be a philosophy. 

Such a philosophy Mr. Davidson believed he had 
found through his fortunate discovery of Rosmini. It 



THOMAS DAVIDSON AND HIS PHILOSOPHY 13 

was a doctrine of radical, uncompromising individualism 
that was only saved from the chaos of atomism by 
including the belief in the absolute, divine, eternal worth 
of every member of the commonwealth of humanity. 
So intent was he upon saving his doctrine from any 
swamping monism that he insisted upon calling his 
view apeirotheism. Certainly there was no room in his 
philosophy for a God who works by special providence, 
or distributes rewards and punishments. "The God 
of the future," he writes, "the just God, gives to each 
one precisely what with his own efforts he has right- 
eously won, neither more nor less. The man who asks 
for more is a miserable dependant, sycophant, and beg- 
gar; the man who is content with less is a fool." ^ 

The method whereby it was sought to establish this 
philosophy was the epistemological method. Every one 
who has studied the course of philosophy at all knows 
that always after the zeal of the first efforts has led to 
the facile construction of some system or other a rival 
view inevitably looms up that seems to have quite as 
strong a claim as the first, and yet contradicts it. So 
the two doctrines consume each other, and a period of 
doubt and skepticism supervenes. From the moment 
this stage is reached one can only make his escape from 
the intellectual slough of despond by asking, as a prior 
question in one's philosophy, what is knowledge, and how 
do we come by it ? Yet what one finds written in the 
history of philosophy is also always this: that, when 
this question is raised, forthwith it is assumed that two 
antithetical terms are somehow immediately given, and 

1 Op. cit. 



14 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

that knowledge consists in bringing these two terms to 
unite ; but as these terms are always taken to be mutu- 
ally exclusive, philosophies are hard put to it to effect 
the union. These antithetical terms are, to take the 
most common instances, the fixed and the fleeting, sub- 
ject and object, the universal and the particular, appear- 
ance and reality, reason and sense, mind and matter, 
sensitive tablet and external things. And the puzzle 
of knowledge is to get one of each of these pairs at its 
opposite. It is generally assumed that if only, by some 
sort of philosophical alchemy, one can transfuse these 
incompatibles, or forcibly collocate them, the problem 
of knowledge is solved. If this cannot be done, then 
one of the opposites is usually discarded in favor of the 
other. Now it is obvious that we should not begin with 
these terms, as if they themselves required no further 
scrutiny. We must begin by analyzing the act of cog- 
nition and the act of perception as they really appear 
in immediate experience, and not as they are interpreted 
by a ready-made theory, such as is implied in the very 
statement of the problem as it usually appears. Bacon 
said that our duty as scientists is to interpret nature 
and not to anticipate it. As philosophers, our task is 
to interpret experience and not to anticipate it. 

The result that is reached by this method I can best 
give in Mr. Davidson's own words : 

Instead of saying, as has been said heretofore, that the world 
starts with an inscrutable God, inscrutable atoms, or an inscruta- 
ble ether, not one of which can identify itself with our intelligence 
and so be known, our theory says that the world consists of a 
multitude of sentient individuals or atoms, whose unity is their 



THOMAS DAVIDSON AND HIS PHILOSOPHY 15 

sentience, and that these are essentially related to each other 
through desire. Sentience and desire are two aspects of the same 
fundamental fact. There is no desire without sentience and no 
sentience without desire. . . . Matter itself, so far as we could 
know it, would have to be groups of feelings. . . . The only 
possible completely intelligible and moral world is a world com- 
posed of essentially distinct feelings or sentiences . . . inter- 
related through action and passion, two forms of feeling, and yet 
fundamentally impenetrable to each other. And, indeed, this is 
the world that we really find ourselves in, or in ourselves. I can 
feel your action and you can feel mine ; but my feeling, or the 
feeling which I am, is utterly opaque to you, and the feeling which 
you are to me. I can learn that you have the toothache and even 
understand it, if I have had one as a modification of my own feel- 
ing ; but I can never feel the toothache which you feel. As sen- 
tient and desiring subjects we are absolutely impenetrable to each 
other, and, in so far, we are hypotheses to each other. That is 
the price we pay for being realities, eternal realities, if you will. 
If you could feel my feelings we should be merged into one and 
both cease to be individuals. This does not lead to agnosticism, 
as might seem at first sight. There is nothing in you that I may 
not know if you choose to be communicative ; but your feelings I 
can never feel. So far, happily, we must be eternally agnostics. 
That is the price we pay for being anything at all.^ 

Or consider, again, this statement : 

Each has only to ask himself, What do I know myself to be ? 
And if he answers honestly he will, I think, say : " I am a feeling 
or sensibility, modified in innumerable ways by influences which 
I do not originate. These modifications, when grouped, are what 
I call the world, or my world, for I know no other. I am the sen- 
tient unity of a sensible world." 2 

1 "American Democracy as a Religion," in International Journal 
of Ethics, Yol. X, pp. 30 ff. 

2 "Education as World Building," in Educational Review for 
November, 1900, p. 327. 



16 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

Just as Schopenhauer had tried to escape from the 
consequences of the omnivorous thought principle, 
upon which the German philosophy that preceded him 
bad rested, by emphasis upon the will, so Mr. Davidson 
tries to avoid the pantheism of both of these philoso- 
phies by making feeling the fundamental fact in expe- 
rience. Now, this is just where one naturally seeks to 
lay the emphasis if one is intensely interested in devel- 
oping a pluralistic philosophy, for it is as feeling that 
we are directly shut within our own worlds, and shut 
out from the worlds of other individuals. 

This doctrine, moreover, in two ways seeks to ward 
off the charge of mere subjectivism: (1) In accepting 
as a fact the action, through desire, of one individual 
upon another, — an obvious fact^ but one which most 
idealisms have difficulty in adjusting to their systems. 
(2) In making room for a moral ideal. Life and edu- 
cation consist in world building, in ordering, classifying, 
grouping our sensations, and hypos tasizing them. "But 
there are worlds and worlds. Since the human being 
is a sentient desire, which from its very nature demands 
the highest and most varied satisfaction, the aim of 
education must be to enable him to construct a world 
capable of yielding such satisfaction. . . . The extent 
and richness of the world which any living being con- 
structs depends upon two things: its capacity for mani- 
fold experience, and its power of arranging or classifying 
that experience. The former of these, again, depends 
upon the number and acuteness of the senses ; the lat- 
ter upon the force of the primitive desire for satisfac- 
tion. . . . Ethical life depends upon the completeness 



THOMAS DAVIDSON AND HIS PHILOSOPHY 17 

and harmony of the world evolved in the individual 
consciousness." ^ A moral world would be one in which 
objects were stamped with their value for the satisfaction 
of desire, and loved and made motives for the will, in 
accordance with that stamping. The spring of all wrong- 
doing is, as ^schylus said, false coinage, irapaKOTrd. 
Some worlds are small but well ordered, the world of 
the ordinary respectable citizen ; some small and ill 
ordered, the world of the parasite and ordinary criminal ; 
some large and well ordered, the world of the saints, 
heroes, benefactors of humanity, thinkers, statesmen, and 
reformers, the introducers of ideals; some large but ill 
ordered, the world of the Macbeths and Napoleons, the 
great reprobates and criminals. Some worlds again are 
rigidly bounded, the worlds of the narrow conservative, 
''old fogy," or of the fanatic of one idea; others are 
continually expanding, the worlds of the liberal and the 
reformer. The pessimist is simply the man who con- 
tinually fails to organize a world satisfactory to his 
desires, and who proclaims himself a failure in world 
building. 1 

To students of philosophy the view as thus stated 
will indeed suggest many doubts and queries. One 
will point out that this extreme emphasis of feeling, 
apparently at the expense of intellect and will, would 
completely shut the individual into his own private 
world, and, indeed, into the experience, if experience it 
could be called, of the present fleeting moment, — such 
expressions as " eternal feelings " being contradictions 
in terms, — and that we should thus be involved in a 

1 Op. cit. 



18 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

most hopeless form of agnosticism. Another will call 
attention to the fact that there is a striking resemblance 
between this doctrine and that of John Stuart Mill, 
with which Mr. Davidson elsewhere expresses his most 
emphatic disagreement; for, in speaking of "feelings 
grouping themselves," one seems to be gliding over 
the difficulties involved, even as Mill does with his 
"permanent possibilities of sensation"; and this gra- 
dation of values here set up as objectively valid is, after 
all, left vouched for merely by the individual subjective 
verdict of the man who has experienced the various 
forms of life, even as Mill would establish a gradation 
in the quality values of pleasures by the immediate 
affirmation of the man who has tried the different kinds. 
These and similar doubts that might be raised have not, 
I believe, been fully considered. I mention them not 
to refute them, nor yet in criticism of this philosophy, 
but rather to call attention to Mr. Davidson's manner, 
more like that of the poet than the philosopher, of pre- 
senting in strong relief that particular aspect of a situ- 
ation that, for the time being, absorbed his interest. 
Such unity as the view possesses is to be sought mainly 
in the large and rich personality of the man, by holding 
together the different expressions of his different moods. 
And, in spite of the attempt to work out this philosophy 
through epistemological considerations and the analysis 
of experience, it was established in his own mind mainly 
by the results of his long and thorough study of soci- 
ology and of the history of civilization. The single 
thread of meaning that to him seemed to run through the 
drama of history was the independence of the individual. 



THOMAS DAVIDSON AND HIS PHILOSOPHY 19 

The struggle of the ages points to the establishment of 
the individual in all his unique integrity as completely 
self-dependent, the master of circumstances and of his 
own fate, neither the creature of things nor yet the 
creature of an all-inclusive God-consciousness. And the 
emphasis of the part played by feeling is due to a desire 
to emphasize this independence, even to the point of 
isolating the single self in a solipsistic world.^ 

The pluralistic philosophy which Mr. Davidson 
reached, a brief and summary statement of which we 
now have before us, he held to be the genuine philos- 
ophy of democracy, since it recognizes the individual 
as the source of all authority, and at the same time 
regards every individual as animated by a desire that 
is in truth nothing less than a desire for the highest, and 
as capable therefore of realizing for himself the highest 

1 Amongst Mr. Davidson's published writings the one that throws 
most light upon his general philosophical standpoint is the article on 
"Perception," which he contributed to Mind, Vol. VII (1884), at the 
time when the influence of Rosmini was particularly strong. The fact 
in experience which he then wished to emphasize was Being. This he 
thought Hegel, and indeed all idealists, spirited away by regarding it 
exclusively in its aspect as definitely universalized in thought. Thus 
Being evanished into a category ; the quod cognoscimus was taken up 
into, and consumed by, the quo cognoscimus. In the latest formula- 
tions of his philosophy we find that the term "being" has given place 
to the phrases "fundamental feelings," or "substantial feelings," 
together with "desire " — the active aspect of feeling. The transition 
is easily understood. Being that is not even conceivably exhaustible 
in thinking, if it is not to vanish in the opposite direction into a mere 
unknowable substratum of experience, must find its meaning in expe- 
rience, and, when we turn to experience, that which is there imme- 
diately given as real is just feeling. It should be added that Rosmini 
almost suggests this transition. The phrase "fundamental feeling" 
is his. 



20 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

satisfaction. Two things follow as a necessary con- 
sequence from this teaching: (1) It should be possible 
for every individual to share in the inheritance of the 
ages, in all, that is, that the ages have produced that 
is of real soul-satisfying worth, in the highest culture 
of the time. And fortunately there is enough of these 
blessings to go around, for these are just the things 
that, as Mr. Davidson used to say, can be multiplied 
indefinitely without being divided. (2) It should be 
the duty and privilege of every more favored individual 
to labor without ceasing in order that he may help his 
fellow-men into their inheritance. And such help con- 
sists not merely in giving them knowledge and culture, 
and helping them rightly to distribute values, but also 
in helping to make them more efficient and competent 
craftsmen. The latter work can only be undertaken 
by such institutions as the famous London Polytechnic, 
but every citizen can do his share in the former. 

Mr. Davidson accordingly spent his life in the effort 
to uplift men by supplying a sound, aimful education. 
To him the world seemed " sadly unspiritual, sadly nar- 
row, ignorant, and frivolous. It has lost the light of 
reason, and is running after vain shadows." Animated 
throughout his career by a profound missionary zeal, he 
early determined to do his share in making the world 
spiritual again. His efforts, alone and unaided, to accom- 
plish this work were very far from satisfying him, and 
he went through life hunting for kindred souls, dream- 
ing of the establishment of a sort of Pythagorean broth- 
erhood of the spirit, a community where the actual 
daily life should be a practical object lesson in the right 



THOMAS DAVIDSON AND HIS PHILOSOPHY 21 

adjustment of social relations. Indeed, the dominant aim 
of his life might be summed up in the words in which he 
described the purposes of one of the organizations that 
he effected with that end in view : (1) " To bring men 
together who really and in all earnestness desire to com- 
prehend the world, in order that they may better it, and 
who are ready to consider all questions without preju- 
dice or respect for current and conventional opinions or 
authority." (2) " To disseminate in every way, by teach- 
ing, lecturing, printing, and especially hy living^ intel- 
lectual and moral truth, and to put a period to living by 
mere conventionality and uncomprehended dogma." 

None of these undertakings proved entirely satisfac- 
tory, and it was only toward the end of his life that, 
almost by chance, he stumbled upon the opportunity 
to carry on this work in a way that seemed to him 
altogether encouraging. 

In the fall of 1898 he lectured in the Educational 
Alliance of New York City to a large audience composed 
mainly of hard-driven laboring men and women from the 
East Side, upon " Problems which the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury hands on to the Twentieth." At the conclusion 
of the lecture one man arose and objected that it was 
all very well to talk about profiting by the culture of 
the ages, but, as for them, they were ground in the dust 
and had no opportunity. With characteristic impet- 
uosity Mr. Davidson exclaimed that it was not so ; that 
they had all the opportunity they deserved; that, if 
they only wanted these things badly enough, they could 
get them. " For instance," said he, " if you will form 
a class, and fall to work in dead earnest, I will come 



22 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

down and meet you once a week and teach you." A 
large number signified their eagerness to undertake the 
work, a class was formed which soon numbered several 
hundred men and women, and Mr. Davidson, always 
better than his word, went down twice a week, meeting, 
on his second visit, a class of those who were particularly 
interested in philosophy. This was the beginning of the 
movement that the present volume describes. 

What Mr. Davidson accomplished with these men and 
women, and how he accomplished it, forms an interesting 
and significant chapter in the history of modern efforts 
for the uplifting of mankind. 

At the first meetings of the class doctrinaire socialists, 
steeped in the theories of Marx, were very much in evi- 
dence ; but, under the Socratic cross-questioning of their 
teacher, they were soon put to confusion and, by com- 
mon consent, it was agreed that the discussion of these 
most difficult and complex social questions should be 
deferred for some years, until they had acquired a broader 
knowledge of the history and meaning of civilization and 
of the culture which it had produced. 

In this band of intensely eager and earnest minds 
Mr. Davidson felt that at last he had found his family, 
and the work with them inspired him with a new hope 
for the future, a hope which he has voiced in the con- 
cluding chapter of his last published work : 

If the teachers of the nation, with a due sense of their power 
and importance, would, without hope or desire for material reward, 
form themselves into an association for the higher education of 
the breadwinners, as the teachers of France are doing, and each 
devote a couple of evenings a week to the work, they would soon 



THOMAS DAVIDSON AND HIS PHILOSOPHY 23 

elevate the culture of the whole people, and remove the worst dan- 
gers that threaten society. Poverty, vice, and degradation would, 
in large measure, disappear, giving place to well-being, virtue, and 
nobility. There is no more patriotic work than this ; for it is not 
amid the thunder of the battlefield, where men slay their fellow- 
men, that the noblest civic laurels are won, but in the quiet school- 
room, where devoted patriots, men and women, combine to slay 
misery, meanness, and corruption.^ 

1 " A History of Education," p. 276. 



CHAPTER II 
THE TASK OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY i 

The task of the ages — if, believing in evolution, Ave 
admit that they have any task — is the realization of 
self-conscious personalities, freely related to each other 
through the three attributes, knowledge, discriminat- 
ing affection, and originative will. Such personalities 
alone can be true ends, since they alone have value on 
their own account. 

This task, though it can obviously have neither 
beginning nor end, is worked out through a progress 
marked by epochs, each of which has its own appointed 
share, so to speak, in the whole. These epochs having 
no clear lines of demarcation, it is customary to identify 
them with centuries, and to ask what forms of progress 
have marked each particular century — century being 
a perfectly arbitrary division of time. 

With a view to determining the task of the twentieth 
century, it would be well if we should trace as far back 
as possible the whole course of human development (for 
each part receives the meaning from the whole) ; but 
as space forbids this, we must be content to gain what 

1 An address to the Educational Alliance of New York, delivered, 
from rough notes, in 1808, and afterward written out for the Society 
for Ethical Culture of Pliiladelphia. Published in the International 
Journal of Ethics, October, 1901. 

21 



TASK OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 25 

light we can by going back for a few centuries, say to 
the close of the Middle Age. 

The task of that age may be stated in a few words. 
It consisted in keeping steadily before each individual 
soul the fact of its own eternity and impressing upon 
it that its weal or woe, throughout that eternity, 
depended upon its pursuing a definite course of con- 
duct. So far, nothing could have been better. But, 
unfortunately, — though, as we may well believe, neces- 
sarily, — these things were presented in an external, 
dramatic way, as arbitrary revelations from an external 
God, and backed by such awesome sanctions as made the 
soul feel itself a mere helpless worm of the dust in the 
presence of an irresponsible omnipotence. It felt that 
its eternity was a mere gift of grace or charity, utterly 
capricious, because utterly undeserved (the saints vied 
with one another in magnifying their own unworthi- 
ness !), while its conduct was determined by external 
laws, supported by a system of purely arbitrary rewards 
and punishments, such as made obedience a mere matter 
of slavish, selfish prudence, however it might cloak itself 
as love to the lawgiver. In one word, human life in 
this age was entirely regulated by authority, which, 
though it might produce a certain amount of socially 
desirable conduct, as even the poorest of motives such 
as fear or avarice may, rendered all true morality, which 
depends upon a free, rational determination of the will, 
utterly impossible. The excuse for such authority was 
the fantastic belief that human nature, as such, was 
utterly fallen, degraded, and incapable of self-direction ; 
that, hence, if ever it was to reach its true end, it must 



26 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

entirely submit itself, ut cadaver^ to external guidance, 
that is, authority, or direct inspiration. This attitude 
of mind is admirably expressed in a hymn still much 
and reverently sung in our churches : 

Direct, control, suggest this day, 
All I design, or do, or say. 
That all my powers and all my might 
In Thy full glory may unite. 

This is, of course, a complete abdication of self-guidance, 
an appeal to God to be moral for us — that we may 
glorify Him ! 

In a system which accepted authority as the guide of 
life, on pain of damnation, there was, of course, no room 
for freedom of any sort, freedom of thought, freedom 
of affection, or freedom of will. And, as a matter of 
fact, all these forms of freedom were, as far as possible, 
rigorously suppressed. Free inquiry into the laws and 
nature of the world gave way to a timid, scholastic 
discussion of the meaning of authority. The natural 
affections, though they could not be entirely disowned, 
were grudgingly admitted to a place in life, and even 
as late as the Council of Trent, in the sixteenth century, 
an anathema was pronounced upon any one who should 
say that the state of virginity and celibacy was not 
better than the state of matrimony. And this is to-day 
the position of the Roman Catholic Church. Above 
all, free self-determination of the will, possible only 
through free inquiry and free affection, was placed 
under the ban. The mediaeval church, in part directly, 
in part indirectly through the state, sought to regulate 



TASK OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 27 

every thought, feeling, word, and deed of its members, 
and of all whom it claimed as such. When it was 
resisted, it shrank from no extremes. 

The task of the centuries since the close of the 
Middle Age has been, gradually to remove this yoke 
of authority, and to raise men to freedom of thought, 
affection, and will — in a word, to rational self -guidance, 
or moral life. This has been done, partly through actual 
resistance to authority, a resistance necessitated by social 
suffering, and partly through discoveries in the worlds 
of nature, history, and philosophy. 

The sixteenth century was marked by great advances 
in all directions. The discovery of America, the proof 
positive of the earth's rotundity, and the Copernican 
astronomy utterly broke up the mediaeval view of the 
universe, the science of astrology, and the astronomical 
ethics depending on both, and thus freed men from a 
whole load of ignorance and superstition in matters 
physical and moral. At the same time, the Reforma- 
tion among the Germanic nations freed northern Europe 
from papal authority, and introduced the principle of free 
inquiry (without, indeed, recognizing its full import), 
while the Pagan Renaissance among the Latin peoples 
went far to free the south from that nature-distorting 
asceticism to which much of the church's authority was 
due, and to make the perfection of human nature, instead 
of the glory of God, the end of human activity. Under 
the influence of both these movements, education of a 
human sort spread rapidly, art revived, and the human 
mind advanced toward autonomy. The full significance 
of these advances was, however, yet to be discovered. 



28 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

The seventeenth century is, unlike the sixteenth, 
which had been largely a period of destruction in 
matters spiritual, a period of reconstruction. Not only 
are the old sciences and philosophies put aside, but new 
sciences and new philosophies spring up to take their 
place. And, strange to say, these new sciences and 
philosophies are all animated by a common spirit utterly 
different from that of the Middle Age. Just at the time 
when the earth, man's abode, ceased to be regarded as 
the center of the physical universe, man himself came 
to be regarded as the center of the spiritual universe. 
It is this fact that makes the modern world, as distin- 
guished from the ancient and medioeval. Though the 
meaning of this fact has been but slowly coming to con- 
sciousness, it is now obvious enough to any one who 
cares to think. It is this : whereas in the older world 
all truth was tried by an external authority, supposed 
to be revealed, and human reason was relegated to a 
thrall's place; in the modern world, human reason is 
elevated to the first place, and all authority, nay, even 
the existence of God himself, has to come before its 
tribunal, and accept its verdict. Thus, truth is no 
longer dependent upon authority but authority upon 
truth. If God cannot prove His existence and author- 
ity to human reason, then reason — man — will have 
none of them. It would be impossible to overstate the 
momentousness of this change. It is not only a change 
from authority to truth, and from faith to science; 
it is a change from moral servitude to moral freedom. 
For man is free only when reason is the ultimate court 
of appeal. 



TASK OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 29 

This great change is due mainly to two men — the 
English Protestant Locke, and the French Catholic 
Descartes ; but we find it in earlier writers — in 
Hooker and Hobbes, for example. Both these latter 
writers place the origin and, therefore, the authority of 
human society in a social contract, and not in divine 
appointment, and are thus the parents of Rousseau and 
the French Revolution. Locke and Descartes, working 
on diiferent lines, came practically to the same conclu- 
sion, namely, that in the human consciousness lie the 
test and reality of all truth, and, therefore, of all life 
guidance. From them comes all modern thought, in all 
its different phases, from the crassest materialism to 
the flimsiest idealism. To the seventeenth century 
belong Leibniz and Spinoza, Newton and Galileo, Vico 
and Grotius — hence the beginnings of modern science 
in all its branches. To it also belong the first effective 
movements toward what may be called individualism, 
which was destined to play such a part in the subse- 
quent world. They take their rise in Holland, England, 
Scotland, and find their overt expression in the three 
great anthropo centric movements of the century, the 
two English revolutions and the foundation of a new 
order of things, whose very essence is individualism, in 
the newly discovered continent beyond the Western 
Sea. In all these changes men are more or less blindly 
asserting their moral rights, their right to freedom of 
action, guided by free reason and free affection. If the 
sixteenth century saw the collapse of external spiritual 
authority and the rise of rationalism, the seventeenth 
saw the collapse of external temporal authority and the 



80 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

rise of individualism, backed too by a philosophy which 
showed it to be rational and practicable. 

In the eighteenth century the movements of the two 
previous centuries toward freedom of thought and indi- 
vidualism in life were carried to extremes, and a new 
movement begun, what may be called the movement 
toward economic freedom. It is par excellence the cen- 
tury of down-breaking in all the spheres of life and 
thought. Voltaire overthrew thrones with a jest, and 
made belief in revealed authority forever impossible ; 
Rousseau discarded all conventionalities and external 
repressive institutions, called for a return to nature, 
and made subjective sentiment the rule of life — indi- 
vidualism with a vengeance ! Hume, the friend of Rous- 
seau, supplied a philosophy for all this by reducing all 
thought to clusters of impressions and ideas, and defy- 
ing these to get beyond themselves either to a world of 
objects, or to a subject. Kant, accepting this result, 
showed how the world that we know, subjects and all, 
can be built up of these clusters, provided Ave bring 
out all that is implicit in them. Goethe, with Titanic 
nature, showed that man works out his own destiny by 
casting off his limitations and rising to spiritual freedom 
among free men — that, as Tenn3^son puts it, "man is 
man and master of his fate." Lastly, Adam Smith, 
devoting himself to a sphere of human action which 
thinking men had too long affected to despise, de- 
manded freedom in the economic world, asserted that 
the shackles should be struck from the hands of labor, 
and that complete freedom of production and trade 
should be permitted, — laissez faire, laissez passer, — 



TASK OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 31 

insisting, with perfect truth, that freedom of subsistence 
is the condition of all other freedom. Meanwhile, indi- 
vidualism, the demand of the individual for recognition 
as an absolute end, found public utterance in the two 
great events of the century, the American and French 
Revolutions, in which men boldly declared that they 
were the lords, not the slaves or tools of institutions, and 
that any institution or law which they could or would 
acknowledge, on pain of denying their manhood, must 
be the expression of their own reason, a means toward 
the attainment of their own ends as spiritual beings. 

Such, after three hundred years of heroic toil and 
martyrdom, was the condition of things at the opening 
of the nineteenth century. One would be glad to be 
able to say that all the movements toward freedom, 
begun and carried on in those years, were continued, 
without interruption, till the present day. Some of 
them have, indeed, been so, and new ones have been 
initiated; but others have suffered a setback and a 
reaction. This was, perhaps, inevitable, and is due to 
the fact that, in the transition from a theological, 
theocentric, and supernatural view of the world, to a 
scientific, anthropocentric, and natural one, and in the 
hand-to-hand struggle for individual liberty, two things 
dear to the human heart and essential to its peace were 
lost, to a large extent: (1) the sense of personal eter- 
nity and immortality, and those hopes that go with it — 
things which had for so long rested upon a supernatural 
basis, and seemed to vanish when this was withdrawn ; 
(2) that settled and fixed condition of society which had 
been attained under monarchic institutions, and which 



32 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

had been greatly disturbed by the inroads of individ- 
ualism, especially by that great explosion thereof, the 
French Revolution. Tlie consequence was that, early 
in the century there set in a strong reaction against 
individualism, both m thought and practice, a reaction 
in favor of faith and supernaturalism, on the one hand, 
and of monarchy and despotism, on the other. In the 
Latin countries of Europe this took the form of a senti- 
mental neo-Catholicism, whose hierophants were men 
like Bonnet, de Maistre, Chateaubriand, and of the 
Napoleonic empire succeeded by the restoration of 
royalty. In the Germanic countries, and in Russia, 
it produced various philosophies whose aim was to 
make the old supernatural religion palatable to awak- 
ened reason, and at the same time strengthen the 
hands of monarchies, ultimately developing some of 
them into empires, e.g.^ Germany. America was not 
sensibly affected by any of these things, except by 
some of the reactionary philosophies — Scottish Reid- 
ism and German Hegelianism. The former, by depre- 
ciating human reason which seemed to have led to 
Hume's skeptical results, found what seemed a vacancy 
left for revelation, whose content, in some form, human 
nature appeared to demand ; and the result was eagerly 
seized upon by the friends of orthodoxy, so that not 
only in Great Britain, but also in America, the Scottish 
Philosophy became very widely popular. The latter, 
which frankly called itself a restoration-philosophy, by 
a firework of dialectics and an impudent distortion of 
the facts of history, undertook to show that Christian- 
ity, or that fairy changeling which it chose to call 



TASK OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 33 

Christianity (for it had made away with the real thing), 
was the absolute religion; and this again has been 
believed by many champions of orthodoxy both in 
churches and universities. Hegelianism undertook, 
further, to show that the Prussian military state, of 
which, as professor in Berlin, Hegel was an official, 
was the ideal form of government, and belief in this 
has, in no small degree, contributed to the building up 
of the German despotic empire. All this the restora- 
tion-philosophy accomplished at a heavy expense — the 
expense of human individuality, human freedom, human 
immortality, and even of God. Hegelianism, whatever 
its author and disciples may say, knows none of these 
things, being only a framework of logical categories. 
It has been a great instrument of reaction, not merely 
in philosophy and politics, but also, and still more so, 
in economics ; for socialism, which is a mere return to 
feudal economics, is simply Hegelianism in economics. 
Marx merely substituted for Hegel's dialectic process 
the process of economic production. But it must be 
admitted that, besides the reactionary philosophy of 
Heofel, socialism has another root in the economic con- 
ditions of the time, which themselves are a result of 
advancing science. The application of discoveries in 
physics to machinery for production, transport, and 
communication has brought about, in the economic 
world of the century, a condition of things for which 
the old economic theories offer no guide, a series of 
problems for which they contain no solution. The 
workman no longer owns his tools, as in former days, 
and thus becomes inevitably in large measure the slave 



84 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

of the man who does. At the same time it has become 
possible for all the world to compete with all the world, 
and since, all other things being equal, the successful 
competitor is he who can obtain his products at the 
lowest wages, there is a continual tendency to make 
wages lower and lower till they reach the starvation 
point. Of the various attempts to remedy these two 
evils none can be said to have proved entirely success- 
ful, not even trades unions or labor unions. The owners 
of the instruments of production are still able to exer- 
cise a certain amount of tyranny over the workingmen, 
while the latter still lead a precarious life, and are, in 
many cases, subject to dire poverty and suffering. Here 
socialism steps in and says it can solve both difficulties. 
It calls upon the state to deprive the employers of labor 
of the instruments of production, and so become itself 
the employer of labor, in which case, the entire working 
class, to which then almost everybody would belong, 
would become state officials, and have their wages reg- 
ulated equitably (so it is believed) by the state. In 
this way, economic tyranny, competition, and poverty 
would cease, and the result would be a "cooperative 
commonwealth," a blessed Utopia. The propounders 
of this scheme — mostly persons to whom true liberty 
does not seem dear — fail to see that, even if poverty 
could in this way be made to cease (and that is avow- 
edly their chief object), it would be at the expense of 
some of the noblest privileges of the race, — of personal 
liberty, enterprise, and initiative, — and that it could 
hardly fail to be fatal to all the higher manifestations 
of intellect and affection, — to philosophy, science, art, 



TASK OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 35 

and literature. At all events, socialism is distinctly 
a reactionary movement, of the same nature as despo- 
tism in politics, and ecclesiastical authority in thought. 
In all these there is a retrogression from free variety 
in harmony to dead monotony in authority. 

But in spite of all these reactionary movements, from 
which we are still sadly suffering, in both thought and 
life, the nineteenth century has been marked by great 
and manifold progress toward freedom, in many and 
many directions. In the economic world, despite all 
drawbacks, the working class is in every way better off 
than it was a century ago, and has more opportunity 
and taste for culture ; the power and tyranny of capital 
has been curbed and regulated. In the political sphere, 
slavery has been abolished in all civilized countries, and 
thus the dignity of the individual spirit, as an end in 
itself, universally acknowledged. France has returned 
to republicanism ; England and Italy have become dis- 
tinctly democratic; the United States has been con- 
firmed in its devotion to freedom ; a strong movement 
is at work in favor of suffrage and political power for 
women. Everywhere the reluctance to go to war is 
growing. In the religious world greater advance has 
been made toward toleration and freedom of thought 
than in any period in the world's history. Persecution 
for opinion's sake is rapidly becoming a thing of the 
past. Philosophy, science, historic research, and liter- 
ary criticism have combined to assault the gloomy 
Bastile of supernaturalism, and it is now as good as 
leveled to the ground, albeit the news of that fact, 
with all our newspapers, does not spread very rapidly. 



36 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EAKNERS 

More and more, religion has come to mean a rational 
ethical life suitable to the nature of free spirits. 
Education has increased and spread as never before; 
illiteracy is rapidly disappearing. Even our univer- 
sities, half mediseval, half ecclesiastical as, for the most 
part, they still are, have made considerable advance 
in adapting their instruction to the needs of modern 
life, and contributing their mite to the cause of freedom. 
Their number, too, especially in this country, has enor- 
mously increased. Of progress in the arts and sciences 
one can only say that it has been greater in this century 
than in all the other known centuries put together. It 
would be well if the same could be said of the science 
of sciences — philosophy. But alas ! it cannot. Phi- 
losophy since Kant left it has rather gone backwards 
than forwards, wandering off either into a crude mate- 
rialism or an empty, merely formal idealism. At pres- 
ent it has come almost to a standstill, ashamed to go 
back openly to the absurdities of the old theology and 
afraid to go forward to pure science destitute of theol- 
ogy. It is in a sore strait, and this largely owing to 
the fact that its professors mostly occupy paid posi- 
tions in unemancipated colleges and universities. There 
are hardly any free lances in thought nowadays, any 
Brunos, Spinozas, Schopenhauers. Yet there are not 
wanting signs of better things. Biology, physiology, 
and psychology, which at present try to usurp the field 
of philosophy, may justify themselves by asserting, as 
they may with truth, that they are preparing the mate- 
rial for a truer system of philosophy than any that 
ever before appeared. If philosophy is the unification 



TASK OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 37 

by reason of the world presented to it in conscious- 
ness, then every fresh discovery in science, every gap 
filled in that world, is an advance toward a complete 
philosophy. 

We stand now at the opening of a century, looking 
backward with mingled joy and regret, and forward 
with mingled hope and anxiety. What has been done 
in the past centuries we have glanced at and tried to 
estimate ; what remains to be done, that can be done, 
in that which is approaching, we must now consider. 
That is its task. And we may say at once that, since 
the task of all the centuries is to raise mankind, every 
member of it, to complete and actual moral freedom, 
which rests upon insight, just affection, and strong 
will, realizing themselves in a social order, the task of 
the twentieth is to perform its share in that. And it 
can do this only by carrying on those movements 
toward moral freedom which were set afoot in the 
past, and doing its best to crush out all reactionary 
movements toward unfreedom spiritual or temporal. 

And, first and foremost, it must begin with a rejuve- 
nated philosophy. Starting from the basis of Kant, from 
whom, baning a few inconsistencies, there is no getting 
away, avoiding the mistakes and misrepresentations of 
his more famous followers, and taking advantage of all 
that has been revealed by the sciences of evolution, in 
nature and culture, it must seek to unify the world in 
the only way possible — through the unity of the human 
spirit — without assuming any other principle of unity, 
God, nature, or the like. If such exist, that will appear 
in the process of unification. 



88 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

The new philosophy will, of necessity, be an endeavor 
to account for the world as the evolution of conscious- 
ness and its content, or, more strictly, of the world as 
the content of a consciousness ; for such is the only world 
we can speak of or know. In truth, if we consider care- 
fully, we shall see that the world is nothing more than 
a complex of feelings grouped and distinguished m time 
and space with reference to the satisfaction of desire. 
If we ask how it has been evolved, and what is its mov- 
ing principle, we shall be compelled to say that it is due 
to desire, the only prime mover conceivable, seeking its 
own satisfaction. Desire is the Absolute, the primal 
fact in the universe, the principle that accounts for the 
whole. Considering further, we shall come to see that 
such an Absolute implies a number of individuals, mon- 
ads of desire, incommunicable, and therefore indestruc- 
tible, each seeking satisfaction through all the rest, and 
in so doing, evolving the physical world, which is the 
result of manifold desires seeking satisfaction through 
mutual aid. Nay, we may go further, and show that 
the moral world, with all its institutions, — a world 
which it has been customary to set over against the 
physical, as governed by entirely different principles, — 
is evolved by a continuation of the same process, and 
that there is no break or gulf between them. We shall 
then recognize that morality itself is nothing more than 
the effort to satisfy to the full the desire that we, each of 
us, have ; and since this can be done only through the sat- 
isfaction of all other desires, that the completest selfish- 
ness is also the completest unselfishness ; that hedonism 
and rigorism, egoism and altruism are the same thing. 



TASK OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 39 

I cannot here enter further into the details of this 
philosophy, though it would not be difficult to work 
these out into lucidity. I merely wish to show in gen- 
eral its nature, method, and moral results, and to insist 
that without a philosophy, that is, a completely rational 
account of the world, eschewing faith, agnosticism, and 
every form of unintelligence, we cannot make any sure- 
footed progress at all. Before we can deal confidently 
with the world and our relations to it, that is, before 
we can live an open-eyed life, we must understand the 
world, including ourselves, or, better, ourselves including 
the world. It is all very well to say that a good life is 
worth striving for on its own account, and that no phi- 
losophy is needed in order to do that ; but those who do' 
so forget that without a philosophy it is impossible to 
say what a good life is, without falling back upon mere 
popular opinion or prejudice — a poor resort. Thus, 
then, the first and most fundamental task of the coming 
century is the elaboration of a philosophy of the world 
in consciousness. This cannot be too strongly insisted 
upon ; for without it our best efforts are mere gropings 
in the dark, without clew and without aim ; and what- 
ever is without aim is without inspiration. And along 
with this philosophy must go an utter repudiation of 
everything that conflicts with it, no matter what author- 
ity it may claim. All pretended revelation, all super- 
naturalism, all unintelligible dogmas and mysteries, all 
religions that cannot make good their claims at the 
tribunal of reason, all romantic and sentimental views 
of life, all agnosticism, must be quietly but resolutely 
brushed aside. We must live by truth and truth alone. 



40 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

If it be insisted that without supernatural religion we 
know nothing of immortality, that must be resolutely 
denied ; for philosophy, when disburdened of theology, 
is fully capable of showing that the self-conscious being 
is above time. In continuing to palter with the dogmas 
of Christian supernaturalism to the exclusion of nobler 
things, we are disloyal to truth and to all the best inter- 
ests of humanity. Nay, we are even disloyal to the first 
principles of the government under which we live. For 
while supernaturalism finds the source of all authority 
in a will external to man's, this government finds it in 
man's. The former leaves man a slave, the latter makes 
him free. Between the two there is no compromise or 
truce possible, and the attempt to make such brings only 
confusion and complication such as retards our prog- 
ress at the present day. The simple truth is that this 
republic is, in principle, a religion far nobler, and far 
more full of promise, than any that has ever before 
appeared on the face of the earth. It alone acknowl- 
edges man to be the source of moral authority, hence 
to be a free being, the carver of his own eternal 
destiny. We might, indeed, fairly say that the task of 
the twentieth century, and of all the succeeding ones, is 
simply the realization of the ideal of individual freedom, 
involving self-existence, that lies at the basis of our re- 
public. That ideal implies that the divine is not a 
single spirit, of which all other spirits, so called, are 
merely creations, that is, self less phenomena, but that it 
is a republic of self-existent spirits, each seeking the 
realization of its desires through love, through intimacy 
with all the rest, and finding its heaven in such intimacy. 



TASK OF THE TWENTIETH CEN^TURY 41 

Such a republic ours endeavors to be, and as such it is 
the expression of the ultimate and absolute religion. 
For us, and perhaps for us alone, true patriotism and 
true religion are identical. And this we have half 
recognized in a curious way. We have disallowed 
external divine authority in our government, and we 
have refused to let supernatural religion be taught in 
our public schools; but yet we have not openly intro- 
duced into either the religion of free spirit, the reli- 
gious ideal upon which all our institutions rest. Thus 
our state and our schools are without religious sanc- 
tions, except such as they surreptitiously borrow from 
a religion of external authority utterlj^ alien to them in 
spirit, and continually tending to overthrow them. This 
sad condition of things it is part of the task of the 
approaching century to put an end to, wiping out that 
distracting and confusing dualism of church and state, 
of religious and civic life, which robs the former of con- 
tent and the latter of enthusiasm, thus degrading both. 
In the future American republicanism must be not 
merely a system of politics, but also a religion, the sole 
and sufficient religion of every American free citizen. 
As a religion, it will not only continually labor and 
tend to validate the rights of every individual spirit, as 
an end to itself and as a contributor to all other ends, 
and so to do away with all those pitiful conflicts that, 
for the sake of half-animal enjoyments, range class 
against class, giving rise to such morbid phenomena 
as socialism and anarchism, both subversive of true 
freedom, but it will also show us that this temporal 
life of ours on earth is a necessary phase of eternal 



42 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

life, which will and must be just what we, with our 
knowledge, love, and will desire that it shall be. 

In order that our philosophy may be truly a unified 
account of the evolving world, we must labor unre- 
mittingly to know, that is, to arrange and classify the 
facts and processes of that world. And this means 
that one important part of the coming century's task 
will be to " make knowledge circle with the winds," 
to turn everybody into a devoted student. It is truly 
amazing how few people in our time are real students, 
how many know almost nothing of the view of exist- 
ence revealed by modern science and philosophy; for 
how many the world is a meaningless show, full of 
grim hobgoblins, among which they stagger round in 
doubt or, at best, in blind faith, or yet blinder agnos- 
ticism. At first sight it seems preposterous to say that 
everybody must become a student, and it is sneeringly 
asked: How can people who have to spend all their 
time and energy in earning a bare livelihood find time 
or energy to be students? And yet that is the only 
condition on which the ideal of our nation can ever 
become a reality. This nation owes it to every one of 
its citizens to see to it that he has time and strength 
left to be a student. That is simple justice. And one 
of the tasks of the century must be to make that 
possible. It is not very long since the notion that 
every person should be taught to write and cipher 
was scouted as an impossible chimera. To-day this is 
almost an accomplished fact, and the state recognizes 
that, in simple justice, it owes this to its citizens. 
Now that we have attained universal common-school 



TASK OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 43 

education, we must proceed and make universal col- 
lege education a fact. I do not say that the state 
should undertake to give this education ; far from it ! 
but I do say that the state should insist upon every 
one of its citizens being raised to that grade of intelli- 
gence which renders its own existence, as what it 
claims to be, a government by and for free men, per- 
manently possible, and should remove all economic 
and other obstacles that stand in the way of this. 
Citizenship should be a college degree, and the only 
degree, and all persons who have not taken it should 
be denied all share in political power. That is only 
justice to them, as well as to other citizens; for to 
put political power into the hands of those who do 
not understand the purpose and meaning of political 
institutions is the height of injustice and stupidity. 

From what has been said, it must be evident that the 
educational task of the twentieth century cannot be per- 
formed without a great change in our present economic 
conditions, since under these such education is impos- 
sible. They must be replaced by others which will make 
it possible for every parent to give his children a col- 
lege education. How is this to be done ? The readiest 
answer will be. By socialism. But we have already seen 
that this involves the loss of the very thing for which the 
state exists, — personal liberty. Some other way must, 
therefore, be found, which shall preserve the rights of 
free individuality, and yet insure it the material con- 
ditions for self-development. And this way, it seems 
to me, can be reached under the same circumstances 
that would render socialism possible ; that is, when the 



44 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

majority of the people are convinced that such way 
ought to be found and are prepared to make the neces- 
sary sacrifices. The great economic task of the coming 
century will consist in bringing this conviction home 
to the great body of the people and preparing them 
for the needed progress. And this can be done only 
by introducing a new ideal of life, and a new valuation 
of tlie things that enter into it. This must be the out- 
come of our new philosophy, which by showing us that 
the only thing truly valuable in existence is spiritual 
perfection, and the only heaven the community of saints, 
that is, the intimacy of free, pure, wise, loving, and 
beneficent spirits, must induce us to transfer the inter- 
est which we now attribute to material wealth to that 
for which wealth is merely a means. Then people, 
instead of entering upon business for the vulgar pur- 
pose of acquiring wealth for selfish comfort and vain 
display, will do so in order to obtain culture for them- 
selves and families and to aid their fellows in doing 
the same. Their aim in the employment of labor will 
be, not to lower, but to raise wages ; or, better still, to 
give no wages at all, but a share and an interest in their 
business itself. They will ask themselves, not. How 
many material things can I possess? but. How many 
men can I enable to rise to the heights of spiritual 
culture and to live lives worthy of immortal beings, 
worthy of the deepest friendship and love? To-day 
men's chief interest is in things, and not in men; real 
devoted friendship is a thing almost unknown. But 
surely there is something exceedingly uncultured and 
vulgar in the character of people who are willing to 



TASK OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 45 

surround themselves with impudent luxury which in 
no way contributes to their spiritual elevation, while 
they allow perhaps hundreds of men and women in 
their immediate neighborhood to struggle on darkly in 
poverty, ignorance, and vice, which utterly unfit them 
for all the nobler forms of spiritual intimacy, for all 
the joys of heaven. There is something truly hideous 
in all this, and it is only our familiarity with it that 
prevents us from rising up in indignation against it. 

I say then that the economic task of the twentieth 
century is to convince men and women of the true 
meaning and function of material possessions, to show 
them that the real " wealth of nations " is a body of 
cultured citizens, rich in knowledge, love, and will, not 
a mass of material things owned by a pack of spiritual 
boors. When this conviction has been reached, and 
each man makes the culture of all his chief end, then 
there will be no need for enslaving socialism ; then the 
conflicts between capital and labor will cease, and with 
them other minor difficulties, such as the servant ques- 
tion, the land question, and the currency question. 

I have thus, I think, enumerated the main depart- 
ments of the task of the twentieth century. What I 
have said may be recapitulated in a few words. The 
task before us is (1) to come to clearness with regard to 
the nature and destiny of man, by an appeal to science, 
and an eschewing of all authority however hoary, and 
(2) having discovered that he is an eternal being, des- 
tined to grow forever in knowledge, love, and will, 
through deeper and ever deeper relations to his fellow- 
beings, to supply the conditions most favorable to this 



46 educatio:n^ of the wage-earners 

growth, by making it the conscious aim of every member 
of the race. A serious effort to perform this task would 
initiate a new era in the world's history — the era of 
divine humanity, the era of the "Eternal Gospel" and 
of the "Holy Spirit," so long foreshadowed by poet and 
sage. And let no one say that, in eschewing autiiority 
and revelation, we are diminishing the hopes of men, 
or accepting a lower ideal of heroism and sainthood 
than has existed in the past. Far from it! We are 
turning hopes into certainties, and calling, for the first 
time in the world's history, for true morality — a mo- 
rality which extends to every faculty of the human 
being, in all his relations with himself and fellows, and 
which looks forward to no reward which it can pos- 
sibly miss, since that reward is itself. Furthermore, 
let no one say that such a life view leaves nothing to 
the imagination, makes no place for art or poetry. The 
very reverse is true. By removing those grotesque 
and stereotyped imaginings of the future life, which 
dwarfed and stiffened the fancy, and contracted the 
field of ideal art, it throws open to imagination and art 
the entire field of possible spiritual achievement and 
spiritual bliss, and invites them to construct ever higher 
and more varied ideals of human nobility and human 
intimacy. For what is art but the depiction of the 
triumph of spirit, revealed to enthusiasm as beauty, as 
that form of existence which needs no excuse? 

I suppose there is no difference of opinion with 
regard to the task of the future : it is to do away with 
poverty, ignorance, and vice, and to raise men to spirit- 
ual culture and freedom, to make of earth what we 



TASK OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 47 

would wish heaven to be. But two questions still face 
us: (1) How shall this condition be brought about? 
and (2) What sort of social order does it imply? We 
shall treat them in this order. 

As to the former, the task before us demands, first of 
all, apostles, — earnest, devoted men who, having risen 
to a clear insight into man's nature and his eternal 
destiny, and recognized that as the only end worth 
working for, are ready to devote themselves, body and 
soul, like Paul of old, to its attainment. But alas ! 
this demand is not easily met. Men of real earnest- 
ness in regard to spiritual attainment are to-day rare 
as perhaps never before. The day of spiritual hero- 
ism seems to have passed. Every one is eager to find 
somewhere to lay his head, some comfortable nook or 
niche in which he may be free from struggle and the 
need for great moral initiative. There is moral and 
intellectual cowardice almost everywhere. There is, 
indeed, a widely spread sentiment of kindliness, mis- 
called humanity, which would be pleased to see every 
human being placed beyond the reach of pain and 
struggle, beyond the need of strong willing, and the 
world reduced to an easy-going, thoughtless garden of 
dalliance ; but the fiery enthusiasm for human worth, 
for the divine-human ideal, where do we find it? And 
yet that is what must be found ere the task of the 
twentieth century can begin. Somewhere there must 
be found a small devoted band of men and women of 
fearless character, clear philosophic insight, and mighty 
spiritual love, who, living a divine life in their relations 
to each other, shall labor, with all the strength that is 



48 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

in them, to lift their fellows into the same divine life. 
Forming a "settlement" in some city or town, they 
must preach and teach and toil, not merely among the 
poor and needy, but also, and perhaps chiefly, among 
the well-to-do, until they have .impressed upon them 
the true ideal of life as struggle for spiritual worth — 
for insight and love and will — and conjured up before 
them the picture of the new heavens and the new earth, 
the scene of the ever-deepening intimacy of pure, free 
spirits. They must make their settlement the very 
center of the city's life, its school, its college, its uni- 
versity, its church, its ethical society, and its theater, all 
in one, and all guided by the same lofty aim. They must 
endeavor to withdraw those that join them from the 
world that is, with its selfishness, its vanity, its love of 
show and foolish, aimless amusement, and make them 
the first citizens of the world that is to come, with its 
friendship, its simplicity, and its active interest in all 
worthy things. They must interest themselves in all 
social movements and endeavor to give them a spiritual 
turn. They must establish an institution which shall do 
for the natural, freedom-guided life of the future what 
the church undertook to do for the authority-awed life 
of the past. And they will have much to learn from the 
church, above all, its discipline, and its care for souls, 
adding thereto the care of bodies. Discipline is the 
backbone of every gospel that has any chance of suc- 
cess. All great religions. Buddhism, Judaism, Christ- 
ianity, Islam, have been, above all, disciplines, institu- 
tions for training the affections and the will, as well 
as the intellect. There is no worthy religion that does 



TASK OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 49 

not set its followers a great task, demanding self-abne- 
gation and heroic endeavor. Through such task alone 
does man become aware of his divinity, and blest in 
that awareness. And, after all, discipline is the nurse 
of freedom. We have to be trained to be free, in any 
sense in which freedom has any value. 

When our little knot of men and women have fully 
established themselves in one city, have increased in 
numbers, and have learned by experience what regula- 
tions, forms, and activities are most conducive to their 
ends, they will send out bands of apostles to establish 
settlements in other cities, just as the mediaeval monas- 
teries did, until gradually the whole nation and, finally, 
the whole world, is leavened with the new spirit — the 
spirit that underhes our American institutions — buried, 
at present, alas, how deep ! 

As to our second question, relating to the future 
form of social life, it is not easy to give it a definite 
answer. That it will be different from the present 
form is very certain : that is already giving way under 
the pressure of circumstances. The family, living in its 
isolated abode, with its servants, regarded and treated 
as inferiors, its private kitchen, laundrjr, and dining- 
room, its exclusive parties, and the rest, belongs to an 
obsolete, inhumane, and un-American order of things, 
against which the apartment house and the family hotel 
are clear protests. No less so is the summer hotel, where 
many families that in winter occupy separate houses 
meet at a common table, and in a common drawing- 
room, and seem thoroughly to enjoy it. All this, I 
think, points to the conclusion that the type of future 



50 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

life will be the monastery, with the family, instead of 
the individual, for its unit. Such a mode of life would 
solve many of our present domestic and social difficulties. 
It would afford that combination of society and solitude 
which is best for man ; it would enable families of 
moderate means to share and enjoy much, not access- 
ible to them in their isolation, — good art, good music, 
good literature, etc. It would be most civilizing and 
humanizing in its effect. The old, ascetic, other-worldly, 
nature-mutilating monasteries have almost passed away, 
with the view of life which gave them birth; but it 
may be that they will revive under a new form to meet 
the needs of the higher, humaner, completer life that is 
to be. Yet all this is merely a suggestion, a surmise. 
No one can at present tell with certainty what the form 
of twentieth-century life will be. Only one thing, I 
think, is certain. The family, as a moral institution, 
will attain increased significance ; as the chief center 
of the efforts of all its members, the goal of a man's 
business ambition, and the main outlet for his wealth, 
it will sink in importance as it ought, and give place to 
a larger object of interest. The man whose labor and 
thought are expended altogether on his family is only 
one step above the man who labors and plans only for 
himself. A man is often an angel to his family and a 
demon to all the rest of the world. The diamonds for 
the wife often cost the bread of the poor. This should 
not be so. 

This is not the first time I have spoken of these 
things, these aspirations and hopes. They are my 
daily and hourly companions. But I seldom find that 



TASK OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 51 

they meet with much response when I speak them out. 
They mean toil of mind and body ; they mean courage, 
independence, self-abnegation, a laying down of one's 
own life and a taking up of that of the world; they 
mean willingness to undergo obloquy, neglect, derision; 
they mean dying in order to live. And there are few 
people, in this morally unheroic and self-seeking time, 
prepared for these things. Every one feels that his task 
is the attainment of temporal well-being for himself; 
and so the task of the centuries, the task of eternity, 
hardly appeals to him. Nay, he is often fain to forget 
that there is any eternity, and so is content to live the 
life of the ephemeron. But this cannot always be so. 
Even in this matter-ridden time, and even as a reaction 
against materialism, there must soon arise a few people 
for whom the interests of eternity shall outbid the 
interests of time, and an apostolate be found to begin 
the task of the twentieth century. 

Unto each man his handiwork, unto each his crown, 

The just Fate gives ; 
Whoso takes the world's life on him, and his ow;n lays down, 

He, dying so, lives. 

Whoso bears the whole heaviness of the wronged world's weight, 

And puts it by ; 
It is well with him suffering, though he face man's fate ; 

How should he die ? 

Seeing death has no part in him any more, no power 

Upon his head ; 
He has bought his eternity with a little hour, 

And is not dead. 



52 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

For an hour, if ye look for him, he is no more found, 

For one hour's space ; 
Then ye lift up your eyes to him and behold him crowned, 

A deathless face. 

On the mountains of memory, by the world's wellsprings, 

In all men's eyes, 
Where the light of the life of him is on all past things, 

Death only dies.^ 

1 Swinburne, " Super Flumina Babylonis." 



CHAPTER III 
THE educatio:n^al problems which the 

NINETEENTH CENTURY HANDS OYER 
TO THE TWENTIETH 

A FREE life is the only life worthy of a human being. 
That which is not free is not responsible, and that which 
is not responsible is not moral. In other words, freedom 
is the condition of morality. That is simple enough. 

Now, freedom, taken in its broadest sense, is condi- 
tioned by several things, such as health of body, wealth, 
and, above all, education. It is obvious enough that, 
however wealthy and cultured a man may be, if he has 
not health, his freedom will be sadly curtailed in its 
exercise. Nor is it less obvious that, if a man is des- 
titute of wealth, and has to spend his entire time in 
obtaining the bare necessaries of life, he is to all 
intents and purposes a slave to his body. Lastly, it 
is clear enough that the uneducated man, however well 
endowed with health and wealth, is a slave. In the 
first place, lie is a slave to other people's opinions, as 
every one must be who fails to think for himself. He 
who acts upon the thought of another is practically 
that other's slave. This we see daily in the political 
world, where the great body of the people, on account 
of their ignorance, are deprived of their rights, and 
often of other things, by selfish men who have received 

53 



54 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

a good education. In the second place, he is continu- 
ally faced by circumstances, the bearing of which he 
does not understand, and hence is compelled either not 
to act at all, or else to act in the perilous dark. Worst 
of all he is cooped up in a pitiful, beggarly world of 
facts and interests mostly of a material sort, knowing 
nothing of the world of science and philosopliy, art 
and literature. The great drama of history is a blank 
to him. He is not inspired by its lessons, its noble 
characters and stirring events. He knows nothing of 
the marvels of literature, — Homer, JEschylus, the 
Hebrew prophets, Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, — noth- 
ing of architecture, sculpture, painting, or music, noth- 
ing of the great discoveries and inventions that cast all 
the fairy tales into the shadow, and suggest a world of 
boundless possibilities. Again, he knows nothing of 
his own natu]-e, origin, or destiny, except, perhaps, 
certain childish myths that grew up before science was 
born. The great truths of ethics, politics, econom- 
ics, philosophy are beyond his ken, so that he hardly 
knows what the words mean. Thus, on all sides, he is 
hampered, fettered, shut up in a bare, squalid, narrow 
world, dark within and dark without. In such a world 
he has small opportunity for freedom. He is thankful, 
if he can walk in some beaten track and keep out of 
mischief. And, indeed, he often fails to do even that. 
He is, moreover, forced to confine himself to dull, igno- 
rant, perhaps coarse company, and to such low forms of 
enjoyment as smoking, drinking, gambling, roughness, 
or even worse vices. And, indeed, what else should 
we expect from a man shut up by ignorance and 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 55 

unculture in a dull, monotonous Devil's Island -prison? 
Of all the sad effects of ignorance, perhaps the saddest 
is, that it cuts its victims off from the society of intelli- 
gent and cultured men and women. It is utterly vain 
to try to make the cultured and the uncultured man 
meet socially on common ground. With the best of 
wills they cannot do it. Ralph Waldo Emerson tried to 
induce his servants to sit at table with the family, and 
benefit by its cultured conversation. What was the 
result? The servants after a few attempts absolutely 
rebelled, so uncomfortable were they, and thenceforth 
took their meals in the kitchen. One summer, in the 
Adirondacks, I persuaded my servants to mix with my 
guests at a house-warming. They put on their best 
clothes and came ; but, though every one was polite 
to them, they stood it only about fifteen minutes, and 
then escaped to the kitchen. Thus the ignorant are 
condemned to associate with the ignorant, and to be 
cut off from the world of intelligence and culture — 
from the very influences which they most need. But 
this is surely a lamentable state of affairs, especially in 
a democratic country, where intelligent citizenship is 
demanded of everybody. Are we not, as a nation, 
unfaithful to our own principles, if we allow it to con- 
tinue? Are we not endangering the very existence 
of our free institutions? Are we not, as individuals, 
guilty of heartless cruelty to our brothers and sisters, 
in allowing them to be disinherited of their share in 
the great treasures of spiritual goods heaped up by 
the labors of past generations? How can any learned 
and cultured man or woman look his or her ignorant 



56 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EAKNERS 

and neglected brother or sister in the face and not blush 
with shame ? 

The practical question is, How shall an end be put to 
this utterly disgraceful condition of things? In other 
words, the chief educational problem which the nine- 
teenth century passes on to the twentieth is, By what 
means shall every citizen in the nation receive such a 
training for body and soul as shall enable him to enjoy 
all the treasures of culture won by past generations, and 
to take part in all the activities of life with intelligence, 
energy, and beneficence ? There are other problems, but 
they are subordinate to this. 

In one respect, the educational problem, in this coun- 
try, is much simpler than the economic one. The peo- 
ple of the United States may be said to have declared 
unanimously for socialism in education, without having, 
so far as I know, set any limits to the education that may 
be given. Indeed, having adopted the principle, it can- 
not logically stop anywhere. All our states, I believe, 
provide for primary and common school education ; most 
of them for high-school education ; and many even for 
college and university education. Indeed, I see no reason 
to doubt that most of our states would provide for any 
grade of education for which there was any consider- 
able demand — even for what it might seem their most 
obvious duty to give, education in statesmanship. That, 
however, is not the only condition required, and such 
education must be given under conditions that can be 
met by all. Now, at present, all these conditions are, 
to a large extent, non-existent. There is no consider- 
able demand for higher education ; the higher education 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 57 

given to the few is far from being the sort that is needed 
for the many; and it is not given under such circum- 
stances that all can take advantage of it. Let us consider 
these points in order. 

1. There is no universal demand for higher education; 
for which reason the state does not offer it to all. This is 
due to several causes. In the first place, there are many 
families in which there exists no notion of the nature and 
advantages of higher education, in which there is never 
a thought of the children's being anything but subordi- 
nates and drudges, and in which culture and refinement 
are regarded with suspicion or aversion. The parents 
have accepted their own dark lot with a kind of dogged 
defiance, and they do not see why their children should 
not do the same. Culture would separate their children 
from them, and they naturally dread this. These are 
very difficult cases. The dull, brutish contentment with 
mean, vulgar conditions, the lack of all higher ambitions, 
is something very hard to overcome. Again, in many fam- 
ilies there is a certain dread of higher education. They 
think it unsettles children, turns them aside from the 
quiet, beaten paths of respectability, and makes them 
question old customs and religious beliefs. Such notions 
are to be found not only among the poor, but also among 
the rich, and are frequently fostered by priests and min- 
isters.i These are also very hard cases. This stolid, 

1 The head of one of the most fashionable ladies' schools in 
New York once told me that his pupils came to him "all covered 
over with padlocks," which he was not allowed to touch; that par- 
ents protested the moment he tried to deal with any subject bearing 
on the conduct of life, or likely to make the young ladies question 
any of its conventionalities. 



58 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

contented, immovable respectability, which dreads to be 
disturbed into life, this owlish orthodoxy, which fears to 
be forced to think or question, can be removed only by the 
slow advance of enlightenment, making such prejudices 
the opposite of respectable.^ But the main reason why 
the higher education is not demanded by all is that so 
many cannot afford the time for it. Families with meager 
incomes find it impossible to support grown boys and 
girls while they pursue the higher studies. The young 
people must " go to work," often at a very early age, in 
order to make a living for themselves and help their fam- 
ilies ; and one continually hears touching stories of devo- 
tion and heroism among such young workers. " Going 
to work " means, in most cases, the end of education, nay, 
even the loss of much that has been already learned. 
Long, dreary, mechanic working hours, amid cheerless 
surroundings, coupled with poor food, bad air, heartless 
taskmasters, and frivolous company, soon degrade the 
bodies and souls of the young toilers ; and thus thou- 
sands, yea, millions, of boys and girls that, with educa- 
tion, might have developed into noble men and women, 
rich in all the virtues of head, heart, and will, sink down 
into mere '' hands," as the cruel term is — hands worked 
by stunted brains and hungry, discontented hearts.^ It 

1 See Dante's scornful description of the vigliacchi (cowards) in 
"Hell," III, 31-G9 ; and compare that of the accidiosi (easy respectables) 
in "Purgatory," XVIII, 88-99. 

2 Still, all day, the iron wheels go onward, 

Grinding life down from its mark ; 
And the children's souls, which God is calling sunward, 
Spin on blindly in the dark. 

E. B. Browning, " The Cry of the Children." 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 59 

is to these that the problem of the higher education 
chiefly relates. The educational question of the day is, 
How shall boys and girls who are both capable and de- 
sirous of receiving a higher education, but who are now 
compelled by poverty to go to work at the age of thir- 
teen or fourteen, be enabled to obtain that education? 
I shall not undertake to answer this difficult question. 
It must be handed over to the twentieth century. But I 
may be permitted to make a few suggestions. In the 
first place, the qnestion is plainly, in one aspect, an eco- 
nomic one. In the coming century, either parents must 
be able to make a larger income, or else boys and girls 
must be able to make a living in such a number of hours 
as shall leave them sufficient time and strength to devote 
to education. It may be that both these things will 
happen. It may be that, in the near future, there will be 
such an advance in wages, and such a cheapening of prod- 
ucts, through mass production and improved machinery, 
that every family of ordinary working ability shall be 
able to give its children all the education they desire. 
In Scotland this condition of things practically exists 
now. In that country, where the desire for higher edu- 
cation is almost universal, there is not a washerwoman 
but can send her sons to college if she chooses and if 
they are fit to go. And many really choose, and many 
sons go. To be sure, this often involves heroic sac- 
rifices on the part of both ; but no one grudges these, 
and they go far to strengthen character. It is true that 
in Scotland the path to higher education is smoothed 
by things that are hardly to be found elsewhere : (1) the 
parish schoolmasters, being graduates of universities, 



GO EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

can usually prepare boys for these ; (2) the universities 
offer for competition a very large number of scholar- 
ships — " bursaries," as they are called there — which 
not only encourage study, but enable many a boy to go to 
college who could not otherwise do so ; (3) the universi- 
ties are in session only five months in the year, and these 
consecutive and in the winter, thus leaving their students 
seven free months in which to earn money with which 
to proceed.^ This arrangement is excellent in many 
ways. The students, though free for seven months, do 
not, on that account, interrupt their studies, nor, indeed, 
are they permitted to do so. A large amount of work 
is assigned to them for these months, and on this they 
must pass an examination before they can enter a higher 
class. Thus they pursue their studies by themselves 
while earning money for a fresh session at the univer- 
sity. It is not too much to say that for Scotch stu- 
dents the vacation is the most valuable part of the year. 
Indeed, I know from actual experience that study com- 
bined with work is far more fruitful than study by itself, 
and that study without an instructor imparts to the mind 
a habit of independence that no chaperoned study can 
give. In this way higher education finds its way to the 
very poorest classes of the population, and many of the 
worthiest names in British literature and science have 
sprung from these. I know of one man who started life 
as a hand-loom weaver, and who later became Lord Rec- 
tor of his Alma Mater, a most honored position. He 
still lives, full of years and honors, having written books 

1 I am speaking of things as they existed in my time, forty years 
asTo. 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 61 

which take a high place in the world of science. And 
hundreds of similar cases might be cited. The case of 
the '' Little Minister " is by no means uncommon. It 
has even been asserted that six tenths of all the officials 
in the British Empire are Scotchmen, although Scotland 
claims but one tenth of the population. Whether the 
condition of things prevailing in Scotland could be copied 
in this country, I cannot say; but the facts cited show 
that there is nothing in the nature of things to prevent 
the higher education from being shared in by a whole 
people. 

In the second place, it is evident that, if ever the 
higher education is to become universal in this country, 
it must be undertaken by the state. As we have seen, 
the state is committed to this as soon as the demand 
for higher education becomes general ; and it certainly 
ought not to do so before. The question, then, is, How 
shall we create this demand? 

While the people of the United States have great 
faith in accomplished facts, they are justly suspicious 
of untried theories, however specious. We may be 
sure, therefore, that the state will never undertake 
to provide higher education for the great body of the 
wage-earners until it is made evident that they are 
both capable and desirous of such education, and that 
they will be more valuable, as citizens, when they have 
received it. But this can be done only through the 
cooperation of three classes of people : (1) the wage- 
earners themselves ; (2) their wealthy friends ; (3) their 
scholarly friends. In other words, before it can be 
demonstrated by fact that the wage-earners are ready 



62 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

for, and will profit by, higher education, they must sup- 
ply pupils, the rich must supply conveniences for the 
imparting of instruction, and the learned must supply 
teachers. And all three classes will profit by the coop- 
eration ; for at present each suffers greatly by reason of 
its isolation from the other two : the wage-earners from 
ignorance, unculture, and envy ; the rich from conceit, 
unsympathy, and frivolity; the learned from pedantry, 
narrowness, and unpracticality. Labor, wealth, and 
learning must be in full sympathy, before a perfect and 
truly democratic society can come into existence. 

We may now ask. With which of the three classes 
shall the movement toward popular education begin? 
With the first, I reply — with the wage-earners. To 
the young among these, we can say now : " If you desire 
the higher education which shall make you intellectu- 
ally, morally, and socially independent, begin now to 
study with regularity and with system in the quiet of 
your own rooms. Let each of you in some undisturbed 
corner have his work table, his books, and his writing 
materials, so that, as soon as the day's toil is over, and 
he has had a little exercise and rest, he may be able to 
sit down, and begin each evening where he left off the 
evening before." ^ I believe there is little possibility of 

1 When I uttered these words, I was little aware what Ignorance 
they implied and what bitter irony they contained. I afterward 
learned that a very large number of my young hearers came from 
homes in which there was not a quiet or retired nook, and in which 
they slept, three or four in a room, regardless of sex. If they wished 
to study they had to go to some public reading room, and such places 
are not very numerous on the East Side of New York. Then I knew 
why the pool rooms and such places are so well frequented. 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 63 

study without some such arrangement as this. Well do 
I remember, when I was only twelve years old, erecting, 
in a quiet garret, a writing table of old tea boxes, and 
working from daylight till sunset (it was summer and 
vacation time — " hairst-play "), in order to learn French, 
which I was actually able to read at the end of six weeks. 
I still have the exercises which I wrote at that time 
(1853), and the boolis which I used, well fingered and 
now brown with age.^ That is half a century ago ; but 
the memory of it is still fresh and delightful. But I 
have always spoken French with a garret accent ! 

Again, since study requires not only home conven- 
iences, but also books, we may say to the young aspir- 
ants for higher education, " save your pennies and buy 
books." Fortunately, in this country many good books 
can be bought for next to nothing, and nearly all scholars 
have numbers of them, which they are willing to give 
away to the right persons. Though living in a remote 

1 Tliis is the way I came into possession of the books. Shortly 
before vacation began, I had gone to the auction sale of the effects 
of a recently deceased minister. Among these was a large number of 
books, certain of which I coveted. Having fifteen pence (thirty cents) 
in my pocket, I began bidding lustily for some of them ; but I soon dis- 
covered that they were all beyond ray means. Though I was ready 
to cry several times, I stood round till the sale was over, and then I 
was rewarded. The less valuable books were sold in lots, and in 
these several buyers found volumes which, for good reasons, they did 
not care to own, — volumes in French, Latin, and Greek. These they 
turned over to me, loading me to such an extent that I had to beg a 
ride in a cotter's cart, in order to reach my home, which was two 
miles and a half off. That night I was the happiest boy in the fifty 
parishes : I had got the nucleus of a library, and I have it now. The 
French books looked very inviting. I set to work at them, and ere 
the vacation was over, they contained no mysteries for me. 



64 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

country village, I had a nice little library before I was 
sixteen, when I went to college. 

When a number of young wage-earners have acquired 
habits of study and surrounded themselves with books, 
they will begin to demand more favorable conditions for 
study, — shorter work hours, college buildings, libraries, 
instructors, — and when the demand becomes strong 
enough, all these will be accorded. If it were shown 
to-morrow that the wage-earners' demand for shorter 
hours was a demand for time and opportunity for self- 
culture, it would certainly be granted. Indeed the 
reason why it is not granted now is because there is 
no evidence that the free time thus acquired would not 
be wasted in evil ways, greatly to the detriment of the 
workers and their families. Then, too, the rich will con- 
tribute their money, and the learned their time and labor, 
so much sympathy is there for the toilers struggling for 
an education.^ Thus will gradually arise institutions of 
higher education for the great body of the people, and 
when these are numerous enough to convince the state 
that there is among the wage-workers a widespread de- 
mand for such education, it will take hold of the whole 
matter and, with public funds, establish a Breadwinners' 
College or People's University in every city ward and 
in every country village or township. Then the cause 
of the higher education of the people will be won, and 
democrac}^ placed on a firm basis. 

1 This sympathy is, indeed, not universal. Among certain classes, 
both of wealthy men and of scholars, there is a snobbish, undemo- 
cratic notion that the so-called " lower classes " require no more edu- 
cation than suffices to enable them to earn a livelihood. More renders 
them discontented ] 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 65 

2. The higher education offered in our colleges and 
universities at present to the few is not of the sort needed 
hy the many. Our colleges and universities are products 
of the Middle Age, of a time when people were far 
more concerned about preparation for the idle joys of 
heaven than for the active duties of earth, and they 
have never belied their origin. Now, surely no one 
can object to heaven if it is of a nature to call forth 
the deepest of human energies, and no one can be a 
more fervent believer in eternal life than I am; but I 
am very sure that the best way to prepare for the social 
duties of heaven (a condition with no such duties would 
be hell) is to perform our social duties on earth in the 
worthiest way possible. It is encouraging to note that, 
at the present day, less and less stress is laid on beliefs 
and ceremonies and more and more on actions and duties. 
Originally the universities were chiefly intended to pre- 
pare for the church, and were open to all properly pre- 
pared comers, however poor. Later they prepared for 
the four ''liberal professions,"^ — theology, law, medi- 
cine, and philosophy, — which, being special activities, 
occupied but a small number of persons compared with 
the entire population. Thus the higher education had 
largely a supernatural aim, and was confined to a small 
number of people who alone were supposed to be liber- 
ally educated. And this mediaeval condition of things 
continues, to a large extent, down to the present day. 
Our universities still retain much of the old supernat- 
ural curriculum, and they are chiefly training schools 
for the so-called "liberal professions," the members of 
1 See Denifle, "Die Universitaten des Mittelalters bis 1400." 



66 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

which arrogate to themselves a position of superiority 
to all other professions however useful. Even in this 
most enlightened country, with our six hundred colleges 
and universities, only one person in a thousand receives 
a college education. Nor, indeed, can things well be 
otherwise, so long as our colleges and universities are 
open only to those who possess means enabling them 
to devote three or four years to study alone. This has 
been so clearly recognized that, in recent years, there 
has sprung up what is called " University Extension." 
The effort is, indeed, a laudable one ; but neither has 
it been very successful, nor are its aims and methods 
such as the circumstances demand. It merely under- 
takes to carry the defective education afforded by our 
universities, on a reduced scale, into a somewhat wider 
circle. It is a thing of shreds and patches, without 
any coherent plan or any idea of rounded culture. A 
course of lectures upon English literature, then one on 
chemistry, followed by an illustrated one on the geog- 
raphy of the Philippines, are not likely to form any kind 
of living, growing whole in the student's mind. Uni- 
versity extension we most assuredly need, but not the 
extension of our present universities, or of their anti- 
quated curricula, in fragmentary or diluted form. Let 
us try to realize what we do need. 

In the mediaeval universities, under whose influence 
higher education still groans, human culture was not 
aimed at. Their purpose was to suppress the human, 
in favor of the divine. When the opening of the old 
Greek, humanity-deifying world led, in the Germanic 
Reformation, to the rehabilitation of Reason, and in 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 67 

the Italian Renaissance, to reconciliation with Nature,^ 
then the culture of the human, in its two aspects, 
Reason and Nature, came to be an object, and to call 
for a new order of studies. Unfortunately the advo- 
cates of these studies, instead of founding independent 
institutions for their diffusion,^ placed them under the 
wing of the old universities, and combined them with 
their curricula. Thus arose the Protestant universities,^ 
a class of mongrel institutions, half devoted to super- 
naturalism and professional training, half to human 
culture. Unfortunately the training remained on the 
old supernatural and authoritative basis, and confined 
itself to the four "liberal professions," while the culture 
consisted mainly in an acquaintance, often extremely 
superficial, with ancient Greek and Roman literature.^ 

1 The mediseval view is admirably expressed by the words which 
Goethe puts into the mouth of the archbishop-chancellor in " Faust" 
(Part II) : 

Nature and Intellect — they are not named to Christians. 

For doing so, we burn atheists, 

Because such speeches are most dangerous. 

Nature is sin. Intellect is devil. 

Between them they foster Doubt, 

Their misshapen mongrel offspring. 

The whole masquerade scene (Mummenschanz) is intended to em- 
body the transition from the mediaeval world of authority and mili- 
tarism to the modern world of freedom, reason, nature, and industry. 

2 Lorenzo de' Medici attempted to do this in his Platonic Academy, 
but he found few imitators. The church was still too strong. 

3 Even the Catholic universities, especially those directed by the 
Jesuits, were deeply affected by the Eenaissance. The Dominican 
Denifle, in carrying his history of the mediseval universities only up 
to 1400, fully recognizes this. 

* With this was coupled, in Italy and elsewhere, an attempt to 
imitate old Greek morals even in their worst aberrations. See the 
first conversation between Faust and Wagner in Goethe's "Faust." 



68 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

This state of things has, to a large extent, continued even 
down to the present day, and in America as much as 
anywhere. Here a very large number of colleges and 
universities are still in the hands of religious sects, 
or are influenced by them ; the education they give is 
mostly confined to the " liberal professions," while the 
culture they offer consists mainly in acquaintance with 
"classical" authors, as they are called.^ 

It is evident enough that no " extension " of insti- 
tutions of this sort can meet the needs of democracy 
at the present day. They do not offer the education 
demanded by the great body of the people. The insti- 
tutions demanded must, in contradistinction to these, do 
three things : (1) they must eschew all supernaturalism 
and authority, and take their stand upon nature and sci- 
ence; (2) they must draw a clear distinction between 
culture and professional training, and see to it that the 
former is conceived in the light of a sound philosophy, 
is suited to the needs, and brought within the reach, of 
every citizen; (3) they must extend the latter to all 
professions that need special training, and do their best 
to blot out the invidious and undemocratic distinction 
between liberal and illiberal professions.^ 

1 There are, indeed, exceptions to this rule, universities in which 
an attempt is made to keep pace witli the progress of science and 
thouglit; but hardly any even of tliese are free from the influence 
of supernaturalism, and not one clearly distinguishes between pro- 
fessional training and culture. 

2 If this cannot be done, the term " liberal " ought to be applied to 
all those professions that add to human wealth or well-being, and the 
term "illiberar' to all that do not, — to stock speculation, whisky 
distilling, gem cutting, and all such as minister to vice or vanity. 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 69 

It is hardly necessary to dwell upon these three points ; 
they speak for themselves. It is surely clear that the 
institutions needed in a democracy are isuch as shall 
wipe out all the unbrothering distinctions that divide 
sect from sect, and shall use every effort to secure for 
the whole body of the people intellectual, moral, politi- 
cal, and economic freedom. 

It appears, then, that the People's or Breadwinners" 
University which our circumstances demand must con- 
sist of two parts : (1) a College for Culture, and (2) a 
Polytechnic Institute ^ for Professional Training. Let 
us consider the nature of (a) the Culture, and (b) the 
Training which these must, respectively, give in order 
to be truly efficient. 

a. Culture 

^ Culture, it is obvious, must extend to the whole 
human being, body and soul, and to all their functions. 
It should never be forgotten that it is difference of 
culture, far more than difference of wealth or position, 
that separates man from man and class from class. 

Body culture includes health, strength, grace, and 
dexterity, which are acquired, respectively, through 
hygienics, gymnastics, deportment, and manual train- 
ing. The whole of these should be taught in the lower 
schools ; but they must be continued in the Breadwin- 
ners' University — the first three in the College, the last 
in the Polytechneum. In the department of Hygienics 

1 Why not say, shortly, "Polytechneum" (TroXurexmw), as the 
Greeks do ? 



70 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

pupils will be taught what to eat and drink, how to pre- 
pare it, and when and in what quantities to take it.^ 
They will be taught when and how to sleep and how to 
avoid all those excesses whicli weaken and break down 
the nervous system. They will be taught how to avoid 
the evils of unsanitary homes and unsanitary dressing. 
No one who has not looked into the matter knows how 
much the working classes suffer from lack of knowledge 
of tlie laws of hygiene. Ill-fed, ill-clad, accustomed to 
breathe impure air, they are unable to do their best work, 
and are wont to be sour and ill-tempered. Look at many 
of the young people in the streets and note what com- 
plexions they have. That means bad food, bad digestion, 
bad air, bad care. It may be said that good food costs 
too much ; but that is only half true. There are many 
inexpensive foods that are excellent ; and even dear food 
is often the cheapest in the long run. All this will be 
explained in the class in Hygienics. In the class in Gym- 
nastics every exercise will be taught that can impart 
strength and suppleness to the body, and make it the 
ready instrument of the soul. The practice of Gym- 
nastics should be continued throughout the entire life, 
in order to insure readiness of action. What is more 
unbecoming than high or stooping shoulders, a side- 
hng or rolling gait, a slow, ungainly movement of 
hands and feet, a general looseness and feebleness of 
the whole frame? And these things are not only unbe- 
coming, but they also go far to unfit their victims for 
skilled labor and efficient work. Gymnastics, it should 

1 Eor the theory and practice of cooking they will have to go to 
the Polytechneum. 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS Tl 

be remembered, are a great aid to hygiene, if they do 
not degenerate into athletics, which are often extremely 
unhygienic,^ not to say brutalizing.) (J.n the class in 
Deportment everything will be done to train the body 
in ease, dignity, and grace, and impart refinement of 
manners. It is, to a large extent, the lack of these that 
unfits the uncultivated man for mingling with cultivated 
people. In their society he feels awkward and bashful. 
He feels that everybody is looking at him. He does not 
know how to act at table, in a drawing-room, in a public 
assembly, and so on. The man of boorish manners, who 
talks loud, uses slang, puts his elbows on the table, and 
eats with his knife, cannot expect to be a welcome guest 
among refined people. These, no doubt, seem little things 
and they are ; but they are big enough to separate class 
from class, which is not a little thing. There is no rea- 
son in the world why men and women who have to earn 
their living by manual labor should not be as refined in 
manners and bearing as any other class of the people. 
It is, largely, the lack of this refinement that makes so 
many of them willing to live in squalor and that makes 
the other classes look down upon them as inferiors, and 
their employers treat them as mere " hands." ^ J 

1 Aristotle told his contemporaries : *' It is no slight evidence of the 
fact that violent exercise impedes growth, that there are not more than 
two or three examples on record [in 450 years !] of persons having been 
victorious in the Olympic games both as boys and as men." — "Poli- 
tics," VIII, 4 ; 1338 b 44 seq. 

2 Old people in Lowell, Massachusetts, delight to tell of the time, in 
the first half of the nineteenth century, when the mill workers were 
ladies and gentlemen. Lowell Island received its name from being 
their summer resort. Things are different now. 



72 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

Soul culture must extend to all the three faculties or 
aspects of the soul — the intellect, the affections, and the 
will — and be such as to develop these harmoniously to 
their full extent. Our present schools and universities 
do little more than attempt to train the first of these, 
leaving the other two to take care of themselves. The 
result is that the affections and wills even of those few 
who receive a university education remain in the condi- 
tion of mere caprice, undisciplined and misdirected. In 
the Breadwinners' University not only the intellect, but 
also the affections and the will must be educated and 
trained. Let us consider these faculties in this order. 

1. The Intellect. What sort of education shall the 
intellect of the breadwinner receive? In attempting' 
to answer this question, I am assuming that all those 
who desire higher education have already acquired the 
lower branches which the state socialistically provides 
in the common schools ; that they can read, write, and 
cipher ; that they know something of geography, physical 
and political, grammar, physical science, music, drawing, 
etc. What higher studies shall they undertake ? The 
answer seems obvious : those studies which shall show 
them their place in the great drama of nature and his- 
tory and the part they have to play in it. This is what 
we mean by imparting culture. The man who knows 
what he is, whence he is, whither he is going, how he is 
related to the world and his fellows, is the cultured man. 
He may not know Sanskrit or Arabic, or even Greek 
and Latin ; he may know very little of chemistry, bot- 
any, or astronomy, and nothing of quaternions ; yet he 
will have the essential things. All the studies I have 



EDUCATIONAL PKOBLEMS 73 

named are important, but they are not essential to cul- 
ture. Now what are the sciences that teach us our place 
and part in the world ? They may all be included under 
one — the science of evolution. Our place in the world 
is our place in the process of evolution. What we are 
consists of what we have done and what we are going 
to do. But the sciences of what we have done and 
are going to do are two, — history and sociology, — the 
former supplying the facts, and the latter the theory of 
the facts. History includes not merely the evolution 
of humanity, but the whole course of evolution — the 
story of the world; and sociology, which is the true phi- 
losophy,! shows the principles by which this evolution is 
guided, thus enabling us individually to play our part 
in it. The facts of history may be classed under vari- 
ous heads, such as natural and cultural ; and these again 
may be subdivided, the former into astronomical, chem- 
ical, geological, biological, psychological, etc. ; the latter 
into religious, ethical, political, economic, aesthetic, etc. 
But all these divisions are made merely for convenience 
of treatment, and the science of sociology shows that 
they are all but aspects of one eternal process, in which 
each of us has an eternal part to play. 

I know nothing more inspiring than the world view to 
which a true and exhaustive sociology leads. It is, in 
truth, religion made scientific ; for what else has religion 
ever been but a view of man's relations to the society of 
beings that form his environment and of his duties in 

1 It is to be hoped that the day is past when philosophy could mean 
a system built up by a dialectic process and imposed upon fact. Such 
philosophy was mere disguised theology, which is but another name 
for mythology. 



74 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

these relations ? In these days when, in the pitiless glare 
of scientific research, the old unscientific world views 
which formed the basis of earlier religions are passing 
away, it is of the utmost importance that they should 
be replaced by a scientific one. Unless this is done, reli- 
gion, which lends to life all the sublimity and consecra- 
tion it has, must disappear, and life become vulgar, sordid, 
selfish, and frivolous, as, indeed, it is obviously becoming 
at present, just for want of sucli a world view. Kant 
once said : " Two things move me to ever greater awe : 
the starry heaven above and the moral law within." 
There is one thing more awe-inspiring than either of 
these, one thing that includes them both and much more, 
— the spectacle of the process of the world through 
beginningless, endless years, a process which embraces 
the starry heavens and the moral heavens alike. History, 
in its full and original sense (tcrro/ota), is the record of 
all this, of the gradual ascent from matter to mind, from 
sense and desire to intelligence and love and will. And 
the record must be complete if we are to understand our- 
selves and guide our lives aright. We must first know 
our relations to the subhuman world, to minerals, plants, 
and animals of all grades ; for, indeed, we are related to 
them all, and are cousins to birds, serpents, fishes, and 
apes; then our relations to the starry heavens,^ and 

1 Man is all symmetry, 
Full of proportions, one limb to another, 

And all to all the world besides : 
Each part may call the farthest, brother : 
For head with foot hath private amity, 
And both with moons and tides. 

George Herbert, "Man." 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 75 

finally our relations to our fellow human beings. We 
must follow the gradual progress of man up from the 
earliest dawn of intelligence; from the lowest savage 
condition, when he knew not the use of fire or weapons, 
up through the stone age, the bronze age, the iron age. 
We must follow the growth of primitive societies, at 
first small and weak, on to ever larger combinations, — 
villages, towns, cities, kingdoms, empires. We must 
study the histories of Chaldea, Assyria, Babylonia, 
Egypt, Media, Persia, of the Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, 
and all the rest, down to our own day. Then we shall 
see that it is all one great drama, in which the histories 
of those different peoples are but so many acts or scenes. 
And what a drama it is, with its heroes and saints, its 
martyrs and conquerors, its merchants and statesmen, 
its poets and sages, its prophets and messiahs ! What 
interest arises as we watch and comprehend it I 

And we are the outcome of all this. We each bear 
in our bodies and souls the result of the entire process. 
We are the sum of the whole Past ; the whole Past is 
needed to explain us; and, for that matter, the whole 
future also. We were born yesterday, so to speak; 
but our history goes back to the beginning of things. 
I cannot fully answer the question What am I? with- 
out knowing the whole of History and Sociology. I 
cannot understand or properly appreciate the govern- 
ment of the United States, that flower of the ages, 
except on the same condition. Why are we so devoted 
to freedom, and why do we look down upon nations 
like Russia and Turkey that are not free? History 
and Sociology alone can tell us. And how inspiring 



76 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

Sociology is ! How instructive it is to follow the phases 
of religion, ethics, economics, politics, etc., from the 
dawn of culture to our own day ! How interesting each 
new discovery in archaeology, in language, in mythol- 
ogy, becomes to us ! In the light of such study how 
plain the meaning of the movements of the present day 
is — of socialism, anarchism, and the rest ! Were it 
not that History and Sociology are badly taught in our 
schools and colleges, taught in a fragmentary, unsys- 
tematic, and ungenetic way, these movements would be 
seen to be mere reversions to primitive conditions. It 
is quite usual to begin the study of History with the 
history of the United States, and of Sociology with the 
w^orks of Herbert Spencer. As well might we begin 
the study of Mathematics with the differential calculus, 
or Manual Training with the construction of a steam 
engine ! In the Breadwinners' Colleges of the future 
these sciences must be taught so as to reveal the whole 
process of evolution in which alone the different phases 
are intelligible. 

To draw up a course of study for a Breadwinners' 
College is not easy ; but the following may be regarded 
as a first attempt: 

1. Outline of the Course of Evolution, including Philosophy 
of Evolution. 

2. The Circle of the Sciences (Encydopcedle), including 
Doctrine of Method. 

3. Outlines of Universal History and Sociology. 

4. Comparative Religion, including Philosophy of Religion. 

5. Comparative Ethics, including Philosophy of Ethics. 

6. Comparative Politics, including Political Philosophy. 

7. Comparative Literature, including Theory of Criticism. 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 77 

8. Comparative Art, including Philosophy of Esthetics. 

9. History and Philosophy of Economics. 

10. History of Discoveries and Inventions, and Influence of 
these. 

11. History and Philosophy of Education. 

12. Comparative Philology, including Philosophy of Language. 

13. History of Philosophy and Philosophic Concepts. 

14. Outlines of Psychology, including History of Psychological 
Theories. 

It is obvious, I think, that any person pursuing such 
a curriculum as this would, at the end, have a fair con- 
ception of the process of the world he lives in and of 
his own place in it. He would, moreover, have his 
horizon greatly widened, his interests multiplied and 
deepened, and his life lifted above the narrow, sordid 
cares of the present He would no longer be the 
victim of every social and political quack who had a 
nostrum to advertise. But, of course, it will be said 
that such a curriculum is far beyond the intellectual 
reach of the great body of wage-earners. To this I 
can only reply that, in my belief, based upon a pretty 
intimate acquaintance with the working classes, it is 
a profound mistake. Everything depends upon how 
knowledge is presented. If the above curriculum were 
presented in dry academic lectures, I admit that it could 
not be followed by many of the breadwinners ; but that 
is the poorest way of presenting knowledge, and there 
is no necessity for so presenting it. As Froebel is never 
tired of telling us, all true education comes through 
self-activity. The teacher who does least himself, and 
makes his pupils do most, is the best teacher. Let an 
instructor take any one of the above subjects, say the 



78 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

first, and let him, after a brief, simple, introductory talk, 
divide it into topics, or subjects for essays, assigning 
one of these to each of his pupils, and telling him where 
— in what books or museums — the necessary informa- 
tion may be found. Then, at future meetings, let the 
pupils read their essays, carefully corrected by the in- 
structor, before the class, and the class freely discuss 
them, and it will be found that there is no lack of ability 
or interest among the breadwinners.^ If the instructor 
have time — and why should he not ? — he will do well 
to accompany his pupils to museums and galleries, and 
on excursions into city and country, that they may make 
acquaintance with facts and nature face to face. 

The first essays of the breadwinners attempting to 
write on scientific subjects will, no doubt, in most cases, 
be crude and styleless, and their reading indistinct and 
hesitating ; but these defects will soon pass away, and 
the sons of toil will liave learned to write and read, in 
addition to the science acquired. What is more, they 
will have learned to take interest in books, in nature, 
and in social conditions. 

The above curriculum, which would extend over 
three or four years, might be interspersed with other 
studies in particular departments of literature and sci- 
ence, care being taken that these entered into integral 
relations with the whole and contributed to a single 
world- view. Their place in the "Circle of the Sciences " 
should be clearly marked. 

So much for the culture of the intellect. 

1 It is needless to say that, for their sake, all public libraries and 
museums should be open every evening and every holiday. 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 79 

2. The Affections. How shall the affections of the 
breadwinners be elicited in snch a way that they shall 
distribute their intensity in proportion to the true, spirit- 
ual worth of things ? That is the all-important question ; 
for, as the ancients ^ and Dante ^ saw clearly, all moral 
evil arises from a false distribution of the affections, all 
moral worth from a true distribution of them. The fact 
is, the affections or desires are the most fundamental 
part of us, more primitive than intellect and will ; and 
so long as they are not right, nothing is right. " Out 
of the heart are the issues of life." 

It is a well-known law that every faculty is developed 
through its proper object or " good," — sight by things 
visible, intelligence by things knowable, will by things 
doable, and so on. It follows that the affections are 
developed by things desirable or lovable, and that, if 
they are to be properly developed, things must be 
adhered to or appreciated by them in the order of their 
desirability, that is, their worth for moral hfe. The 
question is, How can this be accomplished? Nobility 
is more desirable than wealth : how can this be brought 
home to the affections ? This is a very different ques- 
tion from. How can an intellectual apprehension or con- 
viction of this be imparted? Intellectual convictions 
are feeble motives to action, compared with affections. 
A man who loves nobility will be far more noble than 
the man who knows that nobility is lovable. How then 

1 ^schylus attributes all wrongdoing to irapaKOTrd, false coinage, 
that is, the impressing of a false affectional stamp upon things. See 
the wonderful passage in "Agamemnon," 222-224, and cf. "Eumen- 
ides," 329. 2 "Purgatory," XVII, 103 seq, 



80 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

shall we make people love nobility more than wealth? 
The answer is, By presenting each in its complete 
reality. This may be done in various ways, — in the 
home, in the school, in the course of practical life, — but 
the most effective way is through art, whose function 
it is to present things in such a way as to reveal their 
true meaning or moral worth. Dante's ''Hell" and 
" Purgatory," by showing the true nature of sin, make 
it very unlovable, while his " Paradise," by showing the 
true nature of righteousness, makes it most desirable. 
How we hate hypocrisy after reading " Measure for 
Measure " ; reckless ambition, after reading " Macbeth " ; 
indecision, after reading " Hamlet," and so on ! Who 
can intelligently look at the Laocoon group without 
hating sensual vice ; or at the Praxitelean Hermes with- 
out loving the spiritual sympathy that longs to educate ? 

The modern world has rarely realized the function 
of art, and hence an infinite amount of nonsense and 
sentimental twaddle has been spoken and written about 
it ; but the ancients, especially the Greeks, were not so 
blind. Aristotle saw clearly that art addresses itself to 
the affections {irdOr)^ iraOi^jjiaTa) and is calculated to effect 
their purification,^ that is, to free them from disorder, 
obtuseness, and exaggeration. His notions regarding the 
place of music in education are only now beginning to be 
appreciated. I may perhaps be allowed to quote here 
a few sentences from my book on Greek Education : 

"On Music, as a branch of study, we have almost a 
disquisition from the pen of Aristotle. The question 
that first occupies him is, What is the use of music? 
1 Uepalvovaa Kadapaip, "Poetics," 6; 1449^ 27 seq. 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 81 

Is it a recreation, an occupation for cultured leisure, 
or a gymnastic for the soul ? It is all three, he replies, 
and would deserve study for the sake of any one of 
them. At the same time, its chief value in education 
lies in its third use. Music imparts a mental habit; 
about that there can be no doubt. For example, the 
Songs of Olympus 'render the soul enthusiastic, and 
enthusiasm is an affection of the soul's habit.' ^ Aris- 
totle reasons in this way : M.usic is capable of affecting 
us with all kinds of pleasures and pains. But moral 
'worth at bottom consists in finding pleasure in what is 
noble, and pain in what is ignoble, that is, in a correct 
distribution of affection. But in good music the strains 
that give pleasure are attached to the ideas that are 
noble, and the strains that give pain to the ideas that are 
ignoble; hence, by a natural association, the pleasures 
and pains which we find in the music attach themselves 
to the ideas which it accompanies. ' There is nothing 
that we ought to learn and practice so assiduously as 
the art of judging correctly and of taking delight in 
gentlemanly bearing and noble deeds. And, apart from 
the natural manifestations of the passions themselves, 
there is nothing in which we can find anger, gentleness, 
courage, self-control, and their opposites, as well as the 
other moods, so well represented as in rhythms and 
songs. This we all know by experience ; for the moods 
of our souls change when we listen to such strains. 
But the practice which we thus receive from rhythms 
and songs, in rejoicing and suffering properly, brings 
us very near being affected in the same way by the 
1 "Politics," VIII, 5; 1340^ 10 seq. 



82 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

realities themselves. . . . There is such an obvious 
difference between harmonies, that the listeners are 
affected in entirely different ways by them. By some 
they are thrown into a kind of mournful or grave mood, 
e.g.^ by what is known as the mixed Lydian ; by others 
a sentimental turn is given to their thoughts, for ex- 
ample, by languid harmonies ; while there is another 
kind that especially produces balance of feeling and col- 
lectedness. This effect is confined to the Doric har- 
monies. The Phrygian harmonies rouse enthusiasm. 
These are correct results arrived at by those thinkers 
who have devoted their attention to this branch of edu- 
cation — results based on actual experience. What is 
true of harmonies is true also of rhythms.' " ^ 

Let me parallel this by a few quotations from a living 
author : 

" Music has its distinctive place in education, one 
which no other study can fill. The chief value of music 
to the child lies in the fact that it opens to him another 
avenue of expression, revealing to himself and to others 
new possibilities. The time-worn view which regarded 
music as an accomplishment only is fast disappearing, 
and the most progressive educators are beginning to 
realize the psychical value of music, and to recognize 
the vital relations it holds to general education. 

" In every city throughout the land there are thou- 
sands upon thousands of children, woefully ignorant of 
the wealth and power of their own inner natures, whose 
dream of happiness is to have instead of to he. Each 

1 "Politics," VIII, 5; 1340^ 16 seq. Davidson, "Aristotle," 

pp. 191 seq. 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 83 

of these children has a heart-voice which, in its power 
of expression, may become beautiful beyond belief. . . . 

''If, as many thinking men and women assert, modern 
life is fast becoming too material; if the hopes for the 
future are in the rising generation, that, in education, 
increased mental and physical activities may be allied 
to the higher life-qualities which make for character; 
and if, as herein suggested, this heart and soul life 
may be promoted (even in play conditions) by music 
and song, then indeed music's distinctive place in 
education is one of the highest distinction. . . . 

" Let this series of circles represent the pupil . . . the 
outer division his ^^ ^\ actions — what he does ; 
the middle one, [ /^'\\ ^^^ mentality — what 
he thinks; and i V£/ J the center to 5.% — 
what he is. \^^^^ 

"For many years school education was directed almost 
exclusively to the middle division, mentality. As a 
result of such teaching the 'child is able to plan, to 
calculate, to contrive, perhaps to scheme. Language is 
his to reveal himself, but it is also his for concealment. 

" To be sure the principles of the kindergarten and 
the manual-training school have been widely adopted, 
and many of our pupils are taught to do as well as to 
think. In this way their mentality is channeled to the 
outer light of action — a very wholesome process. 

"As yet, however, there has been little or nothing 
done for the center; that is, no direct action. This 
center is a very important part of the boy. In it, 
lying latent, are germs — flower germs and weed germs 
also — that you his parent and you his teacher are 



84 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

ignorant of, as far as he is concerned, of which even 
he himself is unconscious ; weed germs that, in the 
fullness of time and under the stimuli of some sudden 
temptations, may spring up and even challenge for 
control of him. 

" Now there is ... a distinct correspondence between 
the inyier of music and the inner of the boy ; between 
what are known as ' time-beats ' in music and the boy's 
impulses. By cultivating this relationship to vital 
activity his impulses may be developed; more than 
this, they may be regulated — steadied if they are 
flighty, stimulated if they are stolid. . . . 

" Song is the vocal utterance of the self, the inner, 
vital self, complete, individual, unique. ... I am myself, 
unique. . . . This is our glory ; it is also our responsi- 
bility. The utterance of this inner, vital self is song. 

"And what is it all for? Not for self, but for others. 
. . . Music is the voice of love; but the love which 
music voices is not maudlin sentiment, nor gross desire, 
nor narrow attachment. . . . 

"Art, like love, must be all embracing. 

"A few supersensitives gathering themselves away 
from the common herd may ripen and rot in their selfish 
culture. This has been proved over and over again." ^ 

Here are testimonies (and it would be easy to multi- 
ply them), from both the ancient world and the modern, 
to the power of music in regulating the affections. 
What is true of music is true of the other arts, in 

1 William L. Tomlins, "Music: Its Nature and Influence, The 
First of a Series of Lesson-talks on Music in its Relation to the Art 
of Living." 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 85 

different degrees. Aristotle, in his " Poetics," has shown 
the power and function of tragedy, and testimony might 
be cited in favor of the rest. We all know to what 
extent modern life is influenced by literature, and 
especially by novels and stories which appeal to the 
affections. Indeed, literature, the most comprehensive 
of the arts, ought to be the great trainer of the affec- 
tions, and would undoubtedly be such were it not so 
stupidly taught in our schools and colleges.^ In brief, 
if, following Plato, we distinguish in the human soul 
a rational part and an irrational part, we may say that, 
while the former is educated by the sciences, the latter 
is trained by the fine arts. 

But, after all, just as science is only distilled intel- 
lectual experience, so the fine arts are only distilled 
emotional or affectional experience. And just as there 
is, at the present day, a movement to limit book-science, 

1 Some years ago, the University of the State of New York pub- 
lished an Examination Bulletin on College-Entrance English, con- 
taining examination papers in English Literature from some thirty 
colleges and universities. A better display of all lack of sense of the 
meaning and purpose of literature it would not be easy to find. Here 
are the questions which one professor puts to his students on The 
Merchant of Venice : "a. Give the sources of the play. b. Give the plot 
of the play. c. Characterize Bassanio, Portia, and Shy lock. d. What 
part does Launcelot take in the play ? e. Describe the casket scene. 
f. What makes it comedy? g. Explain 'You stand within his dan- 
ger, do you not ? ' 4 : 1,180. Define the words ' argosy,' ' gaberdine,' 
'pageant.'" One wonders how much training for the affections is 
implied in the knowledge necessary to answer these questions. And 
they are not worse than many others. Some professors show an igno- 
rance of even elementary English. One asks his examinees to ' cor- 
rect' *That is the boy's fault, who is not at school to day.' Why 
not correct Shakespeare's ' Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten her 
nine farrow' ? 



86 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

and to accord a considerable space in intellectual edu- 
cation to direct contact with nature, so the affectional 
culture derivable from the fine arts should be supple- 
mented by emotional training through direct contact 
with the life of man. The students in the Bread- 
winners' Colleges, while emotionally realizing the 
works of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, Phidias, 
Praxiteles, Da Vinci, and the rest of the mighty, should 
be using the emotional culture thus gained to penetrate 
the life about them, its joys and sorrows, its loves and 
aspirations, and thus to enter into sympathetic, that is 
normal, relations with their fellow-men. And no one 
will have more ample opportunities for this than just 
these students. More than almost any one, they are 
brought face to face with "life's prime needs and 
agonies," and thus have a chance for a better edu- 
cation than any one else.^ There is nothing that is 
more truly educative, nothing that better insures a cor- 
rect distribution of the affections, than philanthropic 
work of the right sort, undertaken, not in a spirit of 
condescension or missionariness, but in simple loving- 
kindness, and reduced to a habit. The last clause 
deserves to be emphasized; for it should never be for- 
gotten that in the training of the affections habit plays 

1 It need hardly be said that only those works of art and literature 
which are directly dictated by nature appeal to us deeply. Shakes- 
peare and Burns are forever fresh ; Milton and Pope, who drew their 
inspiration from classical literature, are already consigned to the mu- 
seum of literary history. Human experience is the great art school. 
" We learn in suffering what we teach in song," said "L. E. L." It 
is perhaps the greatest drawback to wealth that it cuts its possessors 
off from the most educative experience. 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 87 

a very important part. We love what we are familiar 
with, and what we can do easily. 

3. The Will. When the body is strong and healthy, 
when the intelligence is carefully trained through study 
and contact with nature, and when the affections are dis- 
tributed in accordance with the true worth of things, 
then there will be little need to worry over the training 
of the will. The will, indeed, is little more than the 
combined expression of the rational and irrational ele- 
ments in the soul, in other words, the sum of the 
irrational impulses directed by rational insight. The 
breadwinner is a privileged being as far as will train- 
ing is concerned; for his daily labor calls for almost 
continual exertion of will. If in the Breadwinners' Col- 
leges there is to be a will trainer, his chief function will 
be to select and assign tasks suited to the intellectual 
and affectional status of his different pupils. Such tasks 
will be the more effective in proportion to the amount 
of patience and self-denial they call for ; that is, in pro- 
portion as they induce the individual to prefer his all- 
inclusive, to his all-exclusive, self, and to sacrifice his 
fragmentary self of the moment to the fully organized 
self of his entire existence. To live for all men and for 
eternity is to live a divine life, here and now. So much 
for Culture and Culture Colleges. There is nothing in 
the smallest degree impractical in the scheme of Bread- 
winners' Colleges here proposed. Indeed, we see it in 
process of realization in France at the present moment. 
The infamy accruing to that country from the " Dreyfus 
case " roused three different classes of her people — 
Wealth, Wisdom, and Work — to ask themselves this 



88 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNEES 

question: What must be the intellectual and moral 
condition of a nation in which such things can be done 
and brave publicity. And realizing at once its abject- 
ness and danger, they united in an attempt to put an 
end to it by diffusing intellectual and moral culture 
among the great body of the people, that previously 
had been left in ignorance, or to the tender mercies of 
the daily newspaper and the priest. Thus have come 
into existence in a very brief space of time a large 
number of so-called "Popular Universities" {Universites 
Populaires). What the French have done we certainly 
can do, and ought to do. If their intellectual and moral 
condition is fraught with peril, ours is certainly not 
encouraging. Let us think but a moment of the con- 
dition of our chief city, governed by a ring of vulgar 
adventurers, whose sole aim, by their own confession, is 
to fill their own pockets ; who protect and encourage 
the coarsest vices that they may fatten on the blackmail 
levied on their perpetrators; who bribe and are bribed; 
for whom evil is good and good evil! Where such 
things can boldly flaunt themselves, there is surely need 
for popular education. Realizing our disgraceful con- 
dition, our better men and women, from time to time, 
work themselves up into virtuous fury, and demand 
legislation and other external contrivances to put a stop 
to it, never realizing that it is impossible to obtain any 
better condition until the people are better, and that 
they will not be better until they are better educated. 
They try everything but the one thing that has any 
prospect of being effectual. As the people are, so are 
their rulers. And what sort of rulers are people likely 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 89 

•k 

to choose, a large number of whom live in squalor and 
poverty, condemned to a mean, beggarly world, occupied 
with sordid material interests, unillumined by science, 
art, philosophy, or history ? We have but to look and 
see. Surely, then, it is time for the three classes of the 
people to unite to found Breadwinners' Colleges. 

h. PROFESSIONAL TRAINING 

Thus far I have spoken of Culture, which opens up 
to the worker a noble world, invites him to come in, 
and renders him capable in body and soul of enjoying 
it and mingling with the best. It is the glory of our 
nation that no door leading to anything desirable is 
closed against the man of culture, be he Jew or Gen- 
tile, rich or poor. But on this earth of ours we need 
not only culture in order to live a normal human life, 
but also the means of living. We need the former in 
order to live well, the latter in order to live at all. The 
higher laws and needs of our being do not abrogate the 
lower ; they come not to destroy but to fulfill. Culture 
will make good men and women, good sons and daugh- 
ters, good husbands and wives, good fathers and mothers, 
good neighbors and citizens, and so on; but it does 
not make good mechanics, merchants, bankers, physi- 
cians, lawyers, teachers, or artists. For these and many 
other professions, none of which are essential to us as 
human beings or citizens, there is needed a special train- 
ing. Much of this may be, and is, imparted in the 
actual practice of the different industries ; but there is 
much that cannot be so imparted, and demands special 



90 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

institutions. These are at present demanded for another 
reason, which cannot but be deplored. The labor 
unions do their best to prevent apprentices from learn- 
ing the different trades. In a special report on '' Edu- 
cation in the Industrial and Fine Arts in the United 
States," issued by the United States Bureau of Educa- 
tion in 1892, we read: " The ' Unions' welcome foreign 
born and bred artisans, but throw every obstacle in the 
way of training American youths to become skilled 
artisans. By this policy they force upon the attention 
of educators and legislators evidences of the pressing 
need that exists for devising some practical methods 
whereby the rising generation may have the oppor- 
tunity hitherto denied them of acquiring definite 
technical training in skilled industries." ^ 

The need of special training schools for the "liberal 
professions " is universally recognized ; but there is no 
reason why these should be regarded as exceptional 
among so many.^ So true is this that, of late years, 
there have arisen, in considerable numbers, polytechnic 

1 P. 68. In a footnote on p. 67 is the following quotation from the 
Washington Post: "It is rather hard on the average apprentice in 
this free country that he cannot even begin to learn a trade without 
all the employees in the shop striking. This is what happened a few 
days ago at the glass works at Sandwich, Massachusetts. An appren- 
tice was engaged in the cutting department, when the workmen felt 
aggrieved and walked out. This is both absurd and cruel. An 
apprentice should be made welcome, and helped to learn his trade 
as soon as possible. There is no other sensible course to pursue. 
And as many workingmen persist in denying apprentices a chance 
to learn a trade, public schools must be established where they can 
be taught free and unmolested." 

2 In London, England, "there are upward of four thousand 
separate industries." 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 91 

institutions and technical schools, offering to certain 
other professions the needed instruction. According to 
the Report of the United States Commissioner of Edu- 
cation for 1896-1897 there were at that time forty-eight 
such institutions in this country. In addition to this, the 
majority of colleges and universities give instruction in 
some of the following subjects : Agriculture, Architect- 
ure, Civil Engineering, Sanitary Engineering, Dentistry, 
Pharmacy, Veterinary Medicine, Pedagogy, Domestic 
Science, Military Science, Music, Art, Commerce. All 
this fails to help the great body of the wage-earners; 
but something has been done for them also. On p. 2279 
of the Report just referred to, we read: "In 1896 man- 
ual training was an essential feature in the public-school 
course of ninety-five cities. In 359 institutions other 
than city schools there is training which belongs in a 
general way to the same movement. These institutions 
embrace almost every class known to American educa- 
tion, and the manual features vary from the purely edu- • 
cational manual training of the Teachers' College in New 
York City to the direct trade instruction of the appren- 
tice schools." The number of " manual and industrial 
training schools," at the time mentioned, was ninety-nine. 
It is unfortunate that in this Report no clear distinc- 
tion is drawn between manual and industrial training, , 
so that we hardly know how many industrial schools 
exist. But even if their number were greater than it 
is, they would not meet the needs of the great body of 
the workers. They are open only during the day, and 
are attended only by persons who are not engaged in 
breadwinning. And this brings us to 



92 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

3. The higher education in this country is 7iot given 
under such circumstances that all can take advayitage of 
it. Nearly all of its institutions — colleges, univer- 
sities, polytechnic institutes, technical and industrial 
schools — are closed against the breadwinners, because 
they are occupied with their work during the day, the 
only time when these institutions are open. What the 
breadwinners need is evening colleges and evening poly- 
techneiims. The feasibility of evening colleges may be 
seen in the work of the London Polytechnic, of the 
London Working Men's College, and of many similar 
institutions in Great Britain — " Mechanics' Listitutes " 
and the like. That evening polytechneums are equally 
within the limits of possibility, and may even be a great 
success, is shown by the fact that they are a success in 
London and elsewhere. It is needless to dwell at great 
length on this subject, the facts of it, and the way out 
are so evident. They were known even to Luther, who 
says : " My opinion is that we must send boys to 
school one or two hours a day, and have them learn 
a trade at home the rest of the time. It is desirable 
that these two occupations go side by side." At pres- 
ent it is clear that the " one or two hours " must be in 
the evening. 

Such are a few suggestions toward a solution of the 
chief educational problem which the nineteenth century 
hands over to the twentieth. There is little time left for 
the consideration of minor problems, such as the train- 
ing of efficient teachers for all grades of education ; ^ 

1 See an admirable article on "School Reform" by Professor 
Munsterberg in The Atlantic Monthly for May, 1900. 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 93 

the arrangements and coordination of studies in view 
of different ends; the unifying of the whole course of 
study from the kindergarten up to the university; the 
establishment of a National University to give tone and 
direction to the whole national system of education, etc. 
The one problem which above all others cries aloud 
for solution, and which it will be one of the chief tasks 
of the twentieth century to solve, is the higher educa- 
tion of the breadwinners. This education is absolutely 
necessary not only for the well-being of the breadwin- 
ners themselves, but for the safety of our whole nation 
and its democratic institutions. A democracy cannot 
long be sustained by an ignorant demos. This, indeed, 
is already becoming manifest. Our labor unions have 
already interfered with the liberty not only of employ- 
ers and of the public generally, but also, and still more, 
of the individual workman. Tyranny, socialism, and 
violent anarchism, with their glittering Utopias, are find- 
ing adherents among the workingmen. The political 
boss, with his lying promises and his filthy bribes, finds 
many of them an easy prey. All these things are fraught 
with serious dangers to liberty, and they are all due to 
want of intellectual and moral education. On the other 
hand, it is to the want of technical training that is due 
the fact that a very large number of our people are un- 
able by their labor to give to society an equivalent for 
a decent livelihood, and therefore live in poverty and 
squalor, which are always powerful incentives to vice, 
crime, and rebellion. To the lack of the two kinds of edu- 
cation combined is due, in a word, all that we deplore and 
all that we fear in the condition of the breadwinners. 



94 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

And for this condition we are all responsible. We 
leave a large number of them without intellectual and 
moral culture, and then we despise them because they 
are ignorant and vicious. We do nothing to refine 
their manners, and then we complain because they are 
boorish or brutal. We do not train them in the prin- 
ciples of political economy or sociology, and then we 
wonder why they become socialists, anarchists, or nihil- 
ists. We leave them unacquainted with their political 
privileges and duties, and then we are indignant because 
they sell their votes for a glass of whisky. We con- 
sign them to dark, cheerless, comfortless homes, and 
then we berate them because they take refuge in the 
gilded saloon. We give them no opportunity for the 
spiritual delights that come from the arts and sciences, 
and then we scorn them because they seek satisfaction 
in rum drinking and the other sensual delights of the 
dive. To offset the saloon, the dive, and the pool room, 
we open quiet reading-rooms and chaperoned recreation- 
rooms, and we wonder that they are not attractive to 
people who have never learned to take delight in reading 
or in quiet recreation. All these failures and wonder- 
ments on our part leave them in a deplorable condition, 
and build up between us and them a wall of alienation 
and misunderstanding that not only suggests a " war of 
classes " in the future, but is narrowing and blinding to 
both classes now. The rich and the learned are poorer 
and meaner because they cannot enter into brotherly 
and sisterly relations with the toilers ; and these suffer 
equally because they are sundered from those. Nothing 
can bring about that sympathy of classes which is so 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 95 

essential to a democracy and so beneficial to all classes 
but the universal diffusion of culture. The true rivals 
to the saloon, the dive, and the pool room are the Bread- 
winners' College and Polytechneum, with their lectures, 
their classes, their exhibitions, and their practical work. 

There is money enough and talent enough in this city 
of New 'York to give a higher education to all the people 
if they would but demand it. If but half the money 
that is spent in preaching old fables, and obsolete, semi- 
barbarous moralities were devoted to the truly religious 
purpose of developing the bodies and enlightening the 
souls of them that sit in darkness, we should soon have 
a different world about us. To-day we need some- 
thing very different from, and more effective than, the 
weekly sermon and the catechism. And, above all, we 
need to learn that the simple doing of our duty in all 
the relations of life is the only worthy religion. In 
that religion there are no sects; there is neither Jew 
nor Gentile. 

Let us all hope that ere the twentieth century reaches 
its majority there will be in every city ward and in 
every country township a People's University, consist- 
ing of a College for physical, intellectual, and moral 
culture and a Polytechneum for professional training. 
So only will it be well with us and our country. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT 

In the summer of 1898 I was asked by the director 
of the New York People's Institute to give four lectures 
in the course of the following winter before an audience 
assembling in the large hall of the Cooper Institute — an 
audience composed chiefly of working men and women. 
I agreed to do so, on condition that the lectures should 
be given before the New Year, as I did not expect to be 
able to give them later. There seemed, at first, to be 
no obstacle to this arrangement; but, later, the director 
wrote to me saying that he found it impossible to fix 
dates for my lectures before the New Year. I replied 
then that I must decline to give them. He then wrote 
to me, asking whether, if the question of dates could be 
satisfactorily met, I would be willing to give them else- 
where than in the. Cooper Institute. I answered that I 
had no preference in the matter of location. Thereupon 
it was arranged that I should give m}^ lectures on four 
Wednesday evenings in December, in the auditorium 
of the Educational Alliance, a large Hebrew institute on 
the lower East Side of the city — an institution attended 
chiefly by Russian, Polish, and Hungarian Jews. I was 
warned that I should find there a very critical audience, 
made up largely of socialists of the Marxian type, anar- 
chists, single-taxists, and the like, who, at the close of 

96 



THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT 97 

each lecture, would subject me to a rigorous examination, 
and try to draw me into a dispute. 

Being naturally averse to wrangling, and having been 
thus forewarned, I thought it would be wise to avoid 
disputable assertions in my lectures, and confine myself, 
as far as possible, to the statement of questions and prob- 
lems. I therefore chose as my subject " The Problems 
which the Nineteenth Century hands over, for Solution, 
to the Twentieth." I flattered myself that I ought to 
be able, with such a subject, to impart a certain amount 
of classified knowledge, arouse some thought, and yet 
remain as innocently and impregnably ignorant as Soc- 
rates. I resolved to devote my first lecture to a consid- 
eration of the social conditions that mark the close of the 
nineteenth century; my second, to the economic and 
political problems rising out of these ; my third, to the 
educational problems; and my fourth, to the religious 
and philosophic problems. 

When my subject was announced, several of my wise 
friends thought it their duty to reason with me on the 
obvious folly of treating such questions before such an 
audience. "You don't mean," they said, "to talk phil- 
osophically before a lot of people from the sweat-shops, 
most of whom have but recently arrived in the country, 
and hardly understand English. What they want is a 
course of lectures, profusely illustrated with stereopticon, 
on Dewey's victory at Manila, the sinking of the Maine^ 
the charge of the rough riders at Santiago de Cuba, the 
destruction of Cervera's squadron, or else on the Yosemite 
Valley, the Falls of Niagara, or the big trees of California. 
These are the things they care for and can appreciate." 



98 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

" The trouble about that," I replied, " is that I don't 
know anything about the subjects you suggest, except 
what I read in the newspapers and magazines, which are 
as accessible to my prospective audience as they are to 
me. Some of them, I understand, are keepers of news- 
stands. I don't wish to do at second hand the work of 
the periodical press. I must deal with the things that 
I know something about, and I prefer to deal with such 
as impart instruction rather than amusement. I am not 
a very good instructor ; but I should be altogether a fail- 
ure as a master of amusements. As to talking philo- 
sophically, I am afraid I don't know when I do that; but 
I shall try to impart to them the highest truth I know in 
the simplest terms I can find." " But you don't expect," 
urged my friends, "that an audience of foreign work- 
people will be interested in the questions you propose to 
talk about." "That I do expect," I said; "I have had 
some acquaintance with work-people in more countries 
than one, and I have always found them as intelligent 
with regard to all vital questions as anybody. They are 
less sophisticated and prejudiced than most people, and 
respond more heartily to the truth. Besides, the reason 
why I was asked to give this series of lectures is that, in 
spite of all prophecies to the contrary, I managed last win- 
ter to interest a large popular audience at tlie Cooper 
Institute when I talked on ' Greek Democracies,' a pretty 
remote subject. During the hour and a half which 
my lecture occupied, no one scraped, hissed, whistled, 
or went out." At this my friends left me alone, not 
knowing, apparently, which to admire more, my vanity 
or my folly. 



THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT 99 

On the occasion of my first lecture, the director of 
tlie People's Institute, in introducing me to the audi- 
ence, kindly endeavored to secure me their interest 
and attention by telling them that I was the originator 
of the Fabian Society ^ ; that I had never, in my life, 
received a penny of profit, interest, or economic rent; 
and that I had taken the stump for Henry George on 
the occasion of his first candidature for the mayoralty 
of New York. The director's endeavor was success- 
ful, but it placed me in a somewhat false position. My 
audience concluded that I was a socialist, that I was a 
foe to interest and profit, and that I was a single-taxist, — 
all of which was incorrect. I had to explain that I was 
too much of an anarchist to be a socialist and too much 
of a socialist to be an anarchist; that my practice in 
regard to profit, interest, and rent was purely a private 
matter ; and that my support of Henry George was due 
to my admiration for the man's sterling character, and 
not to his advocacy of the single tax. The fact that 
they now did not know what I was, made them curious 
to find out, and still further secured me attention. 

Being still afraid of an audience reputed to be so crit- 
ical, I took care, before opening my lecture, to say that 
I had not come to teach them anything, or to solve any 
problems, but merely to enumerate, classify, and explain 
the problems which it would be the task of the coming 
century to solve ; that, if I had the solution of any 
of them in my pocket, it would be wicked of me to 
allow them to pass on unsolved to a new age. A friend 

1 This is not true in the sense that I am responsible for its 
principles. 

L.cfC 



100 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

afterward remarked that I spiked all their guns before 
I began ; and that was just what I meant to do. 

But, for all that, I did not escape questioning. The 
lecture, given before an audience of about two hundred 
and fifty persons of foreign aspect, — nearly all Jews, as 
I afterward learned, ^ — lasted about an hour and a half, 
and went off quietly. Then followed a shower of ques- 
tions, all serious and all perfectly good-natured, to which 
I replied as best I could, sometimes openly avowing my 
ignorance, which indeed was no matter of mere strategy. 
But how glad I was that I had made no dogmatic 
statements ! If I had, I should have been ground to 
powder. Before we broke up, I had learned that my 
audience, though, indeed, critical, was completely serious 
and deserved to be treated with the utmost consider- 
ation; and that, if some of its members had allowed 
themselves to be carried away by specious theories and 
sentimental appeals to self-pity, they had done so in per- 
fect good faith. I saw clearly that they cared for truth 
above all things, and that, while they would treat with 
scorn any one who came to them with an air of author- 
ity, they would take to their hearts any one who came 
to help them to discover truth by which they might 
live. My first lecture had been given from notes, and 
was somewhat incoherent. I resolved to write the others 
out at full length, and I did. I was sorry, too, that my 
wise friends had not been present. They would have 
learned something. 

My second lecture, though treating of subjects about 
which there was the greatest difference of opinion among 
my audience, went off quietly. Questions were numerous, 



THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT 101 

as before; but there was no caviling and no speech- 
making. My third lecture, as I could easily see during 
its delivery, carried my audience, which had now more 
than doubled, with it, and it was applauded at the end. 
Then followed questions more numerous and eager than 
before. In the midst of these, a young man stood up 
and said something like this : " It is all very well to talk 
about education for the breadwinners ; but how can peo- 
ple like us, who work nine or ten, and sometimes more, 
hours a day, who come home tired, who have no con- 
venience there for study, few books, and no one to guide 
or instruct us, obtain any liberal education ? " The ques- 
tion was greeted with applause, which I took to mean 
that it was asked by the whole audience. And I felt 
that, of all questions, it was the one best deserving to be 
asked there and then. Feeling that I was ready with 
no answer to it, in an unguarded moment (or shall I 
say a moment of inspiration?), I replied: "That is just 
the chief educational problem which the nineteenth cen- 
tury hands over to the twentieth. Of course you do 
not expect me to solve it. But one thing I can do for 
you of a practical sort. I cannot procure for you shorter 
hours, or make you less tired at night ; I cannot supply 
you with home conveniences for study or with books ; 
but one thing I can and will do, if you care to have me. 
If you will organize a club of people who are really in 
earnest, and who will work with all their might, I will 
devote one evening a week to it." "That's talking," 
some one said, and then came a storm of applause. 

When the questions were concluded, a number of the 
young people came upon the stage, eagerly asking if 



102 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

I really meant to take charge of a club, and expressing 
their desire to belong to it if I did. I assured them 
that I should keep my promise to the letter. Then 
the superintendent of the Educational Alliance, coming 
forward, said: "If you will lead a club, we will give 
you a room." "That's all we need," I replied; and, 
turning to the young people, I said: "Now we have 
everything — pupils, class room, teacher. When shall 
we begin ? What evening is most convenient for you ? " 
" Saturday," was the reply. " Since next Saturday is 
Christmas Eve, and the following New Year's Eve, we 
had better avoid these and begin on the 7th of January," 
I said. This seemed to please everybody, and so we 
parted. 

My fourth lecture was attended by over six hundred 
persons, and roused no opposition, though it was un- 
sparingly radical. 

Before the 7th of January came I had another visi- 
tation from some of my wise friends, whose mission in 
life seemed to be to scare others from doing whatever 
they didn't do themselves. This time, however, I was 
ready for them. I knew the elements that would com- 
pose my class. " Do you know what you have under- 
taken? " asked my friends. "Yes," said T. " Then you 
know that down there they are mostly socialists, anar- 
chists and nihilists ? " " Yes," said I, " and that's just 
what makes them interesting. One good thing about 
such people is that they generally have done some 
thinking on their own account, and that is the very 
best of all preparations for serious study." " But," 
persisted my friends, " you will never be able to preserve 



THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT 103 

order among them. They will orate, and dispute, and 
' claim,' and make motions, and you will never be able 
to get down to serious work." " They will do nothing 
of the sort, more than one evening," said I, " and we 
shall get down to work almost from the first." "Well! 
well ! " said my friends, and gave me up as a hopeless 
case. 

Meanwhile, I was investigating the conditions and 
needs of the members of my prospective class, and try- 
ing to lay out work for them. I found that they ranged 
all the way from the news-stands and sweat-shops to the 
City College, the Normal School, and Columbia Univer- 
sity, and that their needs were as different as their con- 
ditions. It was obviously difficult to find work in which 
all the members of such a class could share with profit ; 
but it did not seem impossible, since they were all inter- 
ested, in more or less intelligent waj^, in History and 
Sociology, '' My first object, therefore, in taking up the 
class, was to induce its members to study and think out 
carefully the great problems of Sociology and Culture, 
in accordance with the historic method, and so to impart 
to their minds a healthy attitude toward society, to do 
away with the vengeful sense of personal or class wrong, 
and to arouse faith in individual effort and manly and 
womanly self-dependence. I desired, moreover, to give 
them such an outlook upon life as would lift their lives 
out of narrowness and sordidness, and give them ideal 
aims. Finally, I wished to train them in the use of cor- 
rect English, both written and spoken." ^ 

1 Quoted from my report to the Trustees of the Educational 
Alliance. 



104 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

With a view to these things, I resolved, after gaining 
the confidence of my class, to make them do as much 
of the work as possible, while I confined my efforts to 
imparting impetus and direction. Further, I resolved 
to divide the work into two parts, devoting an hour 
at every meeting to each. 

The First Part, by means of which I hoped, grad- 
ually and imperceptibly, to build up in the minds of 
my pupils a panorama of social evolution in all its 
phases, intellectual, moral, religious, political, econom- 
ical, artistic, literary, consisted of essays, maps, and 
recitations. It would have seemed to an outsider 
rather miscellaneous and unsystematic; but there was 
method in it. It stood as follows : 

I. Biop-apMes: (1) Aristotle; (2) Bacon; (3) Kant; (4) Her- 
der; (5) Goethe; (6) Mirabeau ; (7) Fr. Lieber; (8) Emer- 
son; (9) Tennyson; (10) George Eliot. 

II. Definitions: (1) Society, People, Nation; (2) Sociology; 
(3) Socialism ; (4) Institution ; (5) Person and Individual ; 

(6) Duty ; (7) Religion ; (8) Nature ; (9) Progress and Evo- 
lution ; (10) Science. 

III. Maps: (1) Egypt; (2) Babylonia; (3) Assyria; (4) Persia; 

(5) Palestine; (6) Greece; (7) Italy; (8) Phoenicia; 
(9) Macedonian Empire; (10) Roman Empire. 

IV. Races, Epochs, and World Religions : (1) Turanians; (2) Sem- 

ites; (3) Aryans; (4) Savagery; (5) Barbarism; (6) Civicism; 

(7) Humanism; (8) Buddhism; (9) Christianity; (10) Islam. 
V. Recitations: (1) Portia's Eulogy of Mercy, from "The Mer- 
chant of Venice"; (2) "Love thou thy Land" (Tennyson); 
(3) (4) (5) "In Memoriam," cxviii, cxx, cxxviii (id.)y 

(6) "Is it come?" (Frances Browne); (7) Psalm xix ; 

(8) "The Present Crisis" (Lowell); (9) "A Psalm of 
Life" (Longfellow); (10) "Days" (Emerson). 



THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT 105 

Here were five headings, with ten subjects under 
each, making in all fifty subjects, calling for home 
work on the part of the pupils. Together they seemed 
to offer a sort of bird's-eye view of the scene and course 
of human evolution, including some of its most efficient 
agents and concepts. The Biographies, the Definitions, 
the Races, Epochs, and World Religions were to be 
treated in essays of about two hundred and fifty words 
each. The Biographies were those of philosophers, 
poets, and statesmen mentioned in the early pages of 
Henderson's " Social Elements." ^ The Definitions were 
those of terms frequently used in dispute b}^ young 
people without being understood, hence causing end- 
less confusion. The Races, Epochs, and World Religions 
seemed to cover the chief facts in the world's history. 
The Maps, together, included the whole ancient world, 
while the Recitations were calculated to rouse an inter- 
est in social life, its virtues, hopes, and fears. I hoped 
that, when the fifty subjects were pieced together, there 
would result a kind of unitary world in which the 
young people would feel at home, and a kind of drama 
in which they would not only feel interested, but also 
recognize their own places and rOles. I hoped, too, that 
thus they would come to see the burning social and 
economic questions of the present day from a point 
of view which would enable them to see these justly, 
and in their true proportions, to escape being the vic- 
tims of crude social and economic theories, and to 
recognize the grandeur of the institutions under which 
they live. 

1 See below, p, 106. 



106 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

The Second Part^ through which I hoped to satisfy 
the desire, evinced by so many of the young people, to 
discuss social problems, took for its basis a single book, 
•^Henderson's " Social Elements," which I hoped to have 
discussed chapter by chapter. The book was well adapted 
for our purpose, offering a comprehensive view of the 
whole field of sociology, and treating every part with 
simplicity and good judgment. Taking account of these 
two parts, I called the class A Class in History and 
Sociology. 

When the class met for the first time, on the 7th of 
January, 1899, I showed that I had made careful prep- 
aration for it, and this at once produced an excellent 
effect. There were fifty-s-ix persons present, of ages 
ranging, as afterward appeared, from sixteen to fifty- 
eight. Only a small proportion were girls. I began 
work by distributing slips of paper and asking each 
person present to write down (1) his or her full name ; 
(2) age ; (3) native country ; (4) present residence ; (5) 
occupation; (6) number of hours employed daily; (7) 
object in joining the class. When the slips were all 
collected, I began to lay out the work. After distrib- 
uting the fifty subjects of the first part among as many 
volunteers, and explaining how I wished them to be 
treated and at what length, I passed on to the second, 
and told them that the purpose of it was to give them 
such a view of the evolution of social institutions as 
would enable them, in the end, to form a correct judg- 
ment regarding the value of such schemes as socialism, 
anarchism, single-taxism, and the like. " At present," 
I said, '' the most of you are as unfit to deal with these 



THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT 107 

subjects as a man who has just learned the multiplication 
table is to deal with analytic geometry or quaternions. 
If, after a careful study of the history of human society 
in all its phases, you still remain socialists or anarchists, 
I shall, of course, have nothing to say except that you 
now hold as science what you formerly held as mere 
prejudice resting on ignorance or sentiment. It will 
be a very freeing and widening experience for you, 
whatever conclusion you may reach, to be able to view 
the problems of the present from the standpoint of 
universal history, and so to see just how things have 
come to be as they are. Most of our Utopian schemes, 
upon which so many generous spirits waste their en- 
ergies, are children of ignorance and misplaced pity. 
What we need is a scheme that shall rest upon a broad 
basis of historic science and human psychology. You 
need to study before you begin to dispute ; and perhaps 
when you have studied you will find little room or desire 
for dispute. Indeed, disputation usually aims at victory 
rather than truth." I then went on to reassure them that 
I had no intention of teaching them anything, my aim 
being merely to direct them to the sources of truth and 
in the methods of correct thinking. The teaching they 
would have to do themselves. When we parted at ten 
o'clock I flattered myself that I had placed the main 
occasions for dispute at a safe distance, and that perhaps 
they would never be reached. And they haven't yet. 

When I reached home I examined the slips that had 
been handed in, and was almost discouraged when I saw 
of what heterogeneous elements my class was composed. 
The handwritings were almost uniformly bad. One 



108 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

thing, however, gave me hope. There was evidently 
but one motive for joining the class, and that was a 
burning desire for knowledge. Given that, I felt I 
could go on. *' My first part," I said, " contains some- 
thing for everybody." 

The following Saturday the class met again with 
increased numbers. The proportion of girls was visi- 
bly greater than before. A number of essays were 
handed in ; but, as I had no opportunity to examine 
and correct them, none of them were read. We began 
work with a couple of recitations : (1) Emerson's " Days," 
(2) Portia's Eulogy of Mercy, from '' The Merchant of 
Venice." Both were fairly well given, the latter with 
a very foreign accent. Discussion followed in each case. 
The meaning of the former piece, whose imagery was 
dwelt upon, was shown to be this : that every day is 
a manifold opportunity which may be either seized and 
used to scale the highest heaven, or wasted for the 
sake of " a few herbs and apples " — just as each one 
pleases. I could see that this made a deep impression, 
and it gave no cause for dispute. It was otherwise 
with the second piece. When the relation of mercy to 
justice came up, several young men rose and made 
speeches in true debating-society fashion. I made no 
objection, but took notes as they proceeded. When 
they sat down, they found to their surprise that, 
instead of being answered, they were going to have 
to explain their speeches. Such an experience was 
new, but they faced it bravely. " Just wliat do you 
mean by 'justice,' about which you have spoken so 
eloquently?" I began. Not only the speechmakers, 



THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT 109 

but several others, in turn, tried their hands at defini- 
tions, each beginning with "I claim." All of these 
I treated in Socratic fashion, adducing instances that 
came under the respective definitions, but were not 
covered by them, and asking if they were just. As 
they plainly were not, it soon became clear to every 
one present that the speechmakers had been talking 
copiously about things they did not understand. I never 
had to listen after that to a speech, and I never again 
heard "I claim." The class had learned one lesson, 
at any rate, — a lesson in caution. I learned afterward 
that several socialists, who had come with the intention 
of proving that socialism was a synonym for justice, 
were discouraged and postponed their exhibition. So 
passed the first hour without a jar, and in the most 
good-natured way. In the second hour, we took up 
the Introduction to Henderson's " Social Elements," 
which deals with " The Basis of Society in Nature." I 
began by asking, " What do you mean by ' nature ' ? " 
Everybody thought he knew that, and many attempted 
definitions. These differed widely from each other, 
and the result was a general feeling of uncertainty and 
ignorance. I then asked, " Who will write a paper on 
'Nature' for next week?" Two young men volun- 
teered, and the matter dropped for the time. We then 
took up the notion of history, and, from the various 
definitions, brought out the facts that there are several 
kinds of history, and that, in modern times, history 
tends to be less and less a genealogy of kings and a 
record of wars, and more and more an account of the life 
and culture of the people. Several histories were cited 



110 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

as evidence of this. In such discussions the second 
hour passed to the evident delight of everybody. My 
difficulties were over. 

The third, fourth, and fifth Saturdays I was absent 
from the class on account of severe illness, and my place 
was taken by two good friends. When I returned to 
it, I found the interest undiminished. 

I cannot continue the history of the class in detail. It 
steadily increased in numbers, and advanced in quality 
of work. We soon needed two rooms instead of one. 
Essays, biographies, detailed definitions, and epitomes 
of important books were written, read, and discussed in 
the kindliest spirit ; poems were recited ; maps, some of 
them very good, were brought in. I carefully corrected, 
down even to the commas, all the written compositions 
before they were read. During their reading, I took 
note of all false pronunciations and emphases, and, at 
the close, pointed them out. The epitomes of books 
proved extremely valuable. Many of them, such as that 
of Max Muller's first series of " Lectures on the Science 
of Language," were admirably done, and contributed to 
open up wide and comprehensive views, and to make 
the phenomena of culture fall into survey able groups. 
But what excited most interest and discussion were 
the definitions, especially when they were felt to be 
needed to clear up a certain point. One young man 
having declared, with evident self-satisfaction, and some 
applause from the class, that he was a materialist, I said, 
*' So am I — a materialist of the worst kind. Of course, 
you know what you mean by * materialist ' ; suppose you 
tell us." The answer involved the terms "force" and 



THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT 111 

" matter." Then I called for a definition of the latter. 
As I expected, everybody was ready with one. Matter ! 

of course, everybody knows what matter is. But, 

at the end of some twenty minutes, it was evident to 
all that nobody knew. This was, plainly, a surprise. 
The young people moved about uneasily, as if to shake 
a definition out of their heads ; but none would come. 
I must say, I enjoyed their surprise and defeat. After 
a little I began to ask them what they knew about 
matter. "Matter," I said, "means to you just what 
you know about it," which was self-evident. "Well, 
I know it 's hard," said one. " Yes," I replied ; " but 
when is it hard ? Is it hard when you are not touching 
it?" There was a moment of silence and reflection, 
and then a general agreement that it was hard only 
when somebody was touching it. "So hardness," I 
said, "implies a toucher, somebody to feel it?" A 
general " Yes " came rather slowly and reluctantly, but 
inevitably. There is no need to repeat the whole con- 
versation. It soon became evident that everything 
which anybody knew about matter involved a sentient, 
and even an intelligent, mind. Thus, in about half an 
hour, by means of simple questions, and without any 
assertion on my part, I brought the class to what may 
be called the idealistic view of the world. From that 
day to this no member has again boasted of being a 
materialist, and to-day every one knows that any world 
that anybody can intelligently talk about is a mental 
construction. Such conversations made a deep and last- 
ing impression, opening up a new world and banishing 
many hobgoblins from the mind. 



112 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

The class met once a week for four months, and did 
a great deal of good work. To a casual visitor this 
might have seemed chaotic, but it was not. During 
the whole time, though young men and women sat 
mixed up together, the behavior was exemplary. I 
never had to utter a word of reproof or caution. On 
the contrary, their whole attitude was a continual inspi- 
ration to tae, and made me feel that I got more than I 
gave. During the latter part of the time, many of 
them visited me at my rooms, giving me an opportun- 
ity to become acquainted with their characters, condi- 
tions, and aspirations. Thus there grew up between 
us a friendship of the most delightful sort. At our 
last regular meeting ninety-eight persons were present. 
At the very end, before I left for the country, they 
gave me a delightful " send-off," in the form of a recep- 
tion, at which they presented me with a lantern for the 
woods, and an album with their names and expressions 
of the most kindly feeling. On that occasion I made 
a short address, encouraging them to continue their 
meetings during the summer, to write essays and epit- 
omes, and after sending them to me for criticism and 
correction, to read and discuss them. I promised to 
write them a weekly letter, if they would keep me 
informed of all that took place at their meetings, which 
they agreed to do. 

They kept their word royally. Throughout the entire 
summer, notwithstanding the frequent heat, they held 
their meetings every Saturday evening, and reported 
their work to me. They likewise sent me their essays 
and epitomes, which I corrected and returned. I need 



THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT 113 

not say that I never neglected my weekly letter.^ The 
subjects of their essays were drawn from Martineau's 
" Types of Ethical Theory," and Freeman's " Compar- 
ative Politics," which I had recommended to them. The 
epitomes covered a wide range of reading. One young 
man, a bookkeeper, sent me the epitomes of Darwin's 
" Origin of Species " and " Descent of Man," Drum- 
mond's " Ascent of Man," and Max Miiller's " Lectures 
on the Science of Language " (First Series), all most 
carefully and intelligently done. I must plead guilty 
to having felt a certain amount of pride when I found 
that the class could go on without me, — that I had ren- 
dered myself practically superfluous. Besides my cor- 
respondence with the class as a whole, numerous letters 
passed between me and individual members of it. I was 
consulted about all sorts of things, — about the duty 
of friend to friend, about the expediency of marrying, 
about how to get a college education, about immortality, 
etc. The question most frequently put to me, and the 
one which I felt least able to answer, took this form : 
" How shall we, who have outgrown orthodox Judaism, 
deal with our orthodox parents, who insist upon our 
observing all the laws and ceremonies of their faith? 
Shall we openly disobey or be hypocrites ? " Several 
added that, if they disobeyed, their parents would dis- 
own them, and cast them out of the family ; 2 and one 
young man sent me, in the form of an essay, a passionate 

1 These letters were manifolded and distributed among the members 
of the class by one of themselves. I am frequently reminded of state- 
ments I made in them. [They will be found below, Chapter V.] 

2 I have been told of several cases in which this was actually done. 



114 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

appeal to parents not to force their children to be hypo- 
crites or liars. In reply, I generally impressed upon the 
writers that the law of love has claims, as well as the 
law of truth ; that, while hypocrisy and lying are forever 
forbidden, they should deal very tenderly with their 
parents, and try to avoid bringing matters to open 
conflict; that, if they believed their faith to be supe- 
rior to that of their parents, they should show this, not 
in words or boastings, but in superior conduct and in- 
creased thoughtfulness. I sometimes added that they 
ought to devote themselves to the study of ancient Jew- 
ish literature, especially of the prophets and psahnists, 
about whom I found they knew very little. 

In the course of the summer, several members of the 
class visited me in my mountain home, and proved 
very delightful company. I learned a great deal about 
their characters, conditions, needs, and aspirations. In 
view of these, I tried to devise a scheme of work for 
the coming winter. The Educational Alliance, having 
come into possession of the Hebrew Free School Build- 
ing on East Fifth Street, agreed to give me the use of 
it for five evenings every week. I resolved to utilize 
its nine rooms for such classes as might seem most 
necessary and for which I could find suitable teachers. 
I made up my mind to take Goethe's "Faust" as the 
basis of my own immediate work, and wrote to the class 
to make preparation for that. 

During an illness which confined me to bed for sev- 
eral weeks in New York in September and October, 
members of the class visited me every day, sometimes 
walking a distance of five miles in oider to do so. No 



THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT 115 

sons or daughters could have been more loyal. When, 
toward the end of October, I was able to return to the 
class, it gave me a royal reception, and insisted upon cele- 
brating my birthday, which it did in the most delightful 
way, presenting me at the close with a laurel crown! 
On that occasion I learned, to my surprise and great joy, 
that, during my absence, its membership had increased 
to about a hundred and fifty. 

We resumed work in November with eight classes 
in place of one. We had classes in Latin and Greek, 
taught by a distinguished Harvard graduate; classes 
in Algebra, Geometry, and Universal History, taught by 
a very gifted member of my class, one who had spent 
the summer with me ; a class in Comparative Religion, 
taught by the superintendent of the Alliance ; a class 
in Natural Science, taught by an able young physician ; 
and, finally, my own class in " Faust." Each class met 
once a week. Later in the winter other classes were 
opened. Many of the young people being foreign born, 
and having resided in this country but a few years, 
spoke English imperfectly, with incorrect pronunciation 
and emphasis. In order to remedy these defects, which 
stood in their way, I raised a small sum of money and, 
therewith, engaged the services of a first-class reader 
and elocutionist, who gave to five of them twelve lessons 
in voice culture and reading. Two others joined the 
class, paying their own fees. It was agreed that, at the 
close of the course, they should all open classes, and 
teach what they had learned to their fellows. This they 
faithfully did, so that during the latter part of the win- 
ter we had seven classes in elocution with an aggregate 



116 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

attendance of about fifty. At the same time, classes 
in stenography, freehand drawing, and higher mathe- 
matics were opened by members of the original class. 
The attendance at some of these classes was small; 
but every one of them was useful, meeting a practical 
need. Early in February, at the urgent request of 
about a score of young men, mostly students attending 
the City College, I opened a class in the History of 
Philosophy, which met on Sundays ^ from 11 A.M. to 
1 P.M. In course of time, this was joined by a number 
of young men and women, not college students. 

As I am but imperfectly acquainted with what went on 
in the other classes, I shall speak only of my own two. 

In opening the " Faust " class, I gave a short address, 
pointing out, in a general way, the plan of the poem, 
its historic and philosophic import, and its relation to 
the other great religious poems of the world, — " Job," 
the " Oresteia," and the " Divine Comedy." Further, I 
gave notice that we should give one hour each evening 
to reading and expounding the poem in detail, and the 
other to the reading and discussion of essays on sub- 
jects connected with it. I then called for volunteers 
for a large number of essays, — essays on the life 
of Goethe, the historical Faust, the legendary Faust, 
Marlowe's " Dr. Faustus," the history of the blood-pact 
with the devil, the origin of the name Mephistopheles, 
the character of mediaeval culture, the Renaissance, the 
Reformation, Religion, Culture versus Religion, the great 
thinkers (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) of the Middle 

1 It must be remembered that my pupils were mostly Jews, and 
that, as Hegel said, Denken ist auch Gottesdienst. 



THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT 117 

Age, Goethe's theory of art as expressed in the first 
prologue to "Faust," Aristotle's theory of art as set 
forth in his "Poetics," etc. All these subjects and 
many more found candidates, and all were actually 
treated. Many subjects were also given out later. 

It is needless to say that I do not remember distinctly 
all the essays, though I read and corrected every one 
of them, and afterward heard them read ; but a few of 
them were so good that they made a deep impression 
on me. Such were the essays on Aristotle's Poetics, 
the Renaissance, Religion, Culture, and Averroes. The 
first of these, written by a young woman from southern 
Russia, who makes her living with her scissors and 
needle, was admirable and occupied us, in the most 
profitable way, four or five evenings. At the end, we 
had reached some pretty definite views as to the mean- 
ing and purpose of art and literature. The essay on the 
Renaissance, by a student of architecture, was a most 
comprehensive presentation of the whole subject. That 
on Religion, by a clerk in a hat factory, was full of 
earnestness and showed that the author had grasped the 
heart of the matter. I am inclined to believe that the 
writing of that essay, involving, as it did, considerable 
reading, made an epoch in his life. 

In expounding the text of " Faust," I had five aims in 
view : (1) to cultivate in the class a taste for true poetry ; 
(2) to show how a great work of literary art should be 
studied so that its informing idea might be seen in all 
its ramifications; (3) to bring out clearly the central 
idea, or problem, of " Faust," viz., the transition of the 
human mind from supernaturalism, faith, and authority, 



118 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

embodied in the institutions of the Middle Age, to natur- 
alism, science, and freedom, which are struggling for 
embodiment in those of the present ; (4) to conjure up 
gradually a picture of mediaeval life, as contrasted with 
modern, and to emphasize the distinction between the 
ethics of authority and the ethics of freedom; (5) to 
help the young people, who, amid many difficulties and 
misgivings, are crossing the desert from the Egypt of 
spiritual bondage to the Promised Land of freedom, to 
find their way, and to settle down to a worthy life after 
their arrival. I paid but little attention to the grammati- 
cal side of the work ; but I found many opportunities of 
showing that Goethe had sounded the deepest intellec- 
tual and moral problems of the " little world," and had 
in some cases given the solution of them in a few words. 
As I went on, I could not help seeing that there was 
growing in the minds of my class a consciousness of 
the drama of modern life, its meaning, and direction. 

Though we had twenty-eight sessions, we did not get 
beyond the first part of the play, which deals with man's 
two primitive instincts, — hunger and love or lust. At 
our last meeting I read an essay on the Gretchen epi- 
sode, which needs tender handling. 

In undertaking a class in the History of Philosophy 
my chief purposes, apart from communicating a general 
outline of the facts, were : (1) to trace the course of 
reflection from naive common sense up to philosophy; 
that is, from that attitude of mind which finds and, 
without question, accepts a world of things, through 
that which reduces things to one or more simple prin- 
ciples, up to that which realizes that, if they are to be 



THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT 119 

comprehended, they must be expressed in terms of actual 
experience; (2) to impress the conclusion, thus made 
evident, that mind is the essential condition of any 
knowable world; and (3) to draw the corollary that, 
since all experience is individual, the world is made up 
of a multitude of individual minds acting and reacting 
upon each other ; in other words, that it is essentially 
spiritual, social, and moral. I felt that, if I could attain 
this result, several important questions, such as those 
of individual immortality and free will, would have 
answered themselves, and a solid basis been laid for a 
worthy, rational life. 

I assigned, as the basis of our work, Schwegler's 
compendious " History of Philosophy," at the same time 
giving a list of longer works to be consulted when neces- 
sary, — Hegel's, Zeller's, Byk's, Fairbanks', Ueberweg- 
Heinze's, Erdmann's, Windelband's, etc. My method of 
instruction was the same as that pursued in the other 
class, — essays and discussions. I refused to admit to 
the class any one who could not attend regularly and 
do all the reading and writing assigned to him. I did 
this on the ground that philosophy must be a rounded 
whole, and not a heap of fragments. I opened the class 
with a brief talk on the meaning, method, and function 
of philosophy, its relations to tradition, to science, and 
to life, and its chief epochs. We then proceeded, after 
a few words on Hindu philosophy, to take up the reflec- 
tive thought of the Greeks, and I gave out a series of sub- 
jects for essays, including : The Social Conditions which 
gave rise to Reflection ; Nature versus Convention ; The 
Origin of the term '' Nature "; Theology versus Science ; 



120 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

The Different Schools of Philosophy, their Distinguish- 
ing Characteristics and their Interrelation; The Chief 
Philosophers, and their Special Tenets; The Converg- 
ing Lines of Thought that prepared the Way for the 
Sophists ; Sophistry and the Sophists ; Socrates and his 
Relation to the Sophists ; The Socrates of Aristophanes, 
of Xenophon, of Plato ; The Transition from Objec- 
tivism to Subjectivism accomplished by Pre-Socratic 
Thought ; The Relation of Pre-Socratic Thought to 
Social and Political Life, etc. Most of these subjects 
were treated in well-written essays, which were read and 
discussed in the class. Some of them showed remark- 
able powers of thought, especially those on the puzzles 
of Zeno. Up to the time when I left for the country, 
our work covered the evolution of Greek thought 
from Thales to Socrates, that is, the first period in the 
advance of Western Reflection from na'ive objectivism 
to subjectivism, and to the conviction that the expla- 
nation of the world lies in the self, which thus becomes 
the grand reality. I was surprised to find how easily 
the fundamental position of idealism was grasped by 
some of the young men, and with what readiness they 
perceived its consequences for life and morals. 

From what has been said it will be evident that, in 
the few months of its existence, the class acquired a 
certain amount of intellectual and moral insight. But 
that was not my only aim in carrying it on. I had two 
others : (1) to train as many as possible of the young 
people for active philanthropic work ; and (2) to banish 
from their hearts all class feeling and social hatred. 
I have long believed that intellectual and moral culture 



THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT 121 

is of comparatively little value, unless it expresses itself 
in wise active work for the good of others, and that 
little work of this sort can be done by people who cher- 
ish in their hearts a sense of wrong, or of hatred to any 
class in the community. I was, therefore, extremely 
glad when, about the middle of the winter, I received 
from a little knot of our young men the following 
letter. (I omit superscription and signature.) 

In your letter of May 23, 1899, to the class, you mention how 
pleased you would be to have us form into a society for practical 
work on a basis of right knowledge and right will. 

Trusting we have discovered (very largely through your aid) 
a spark of right knowledge and more of right will, we the following 
four, namely (here follow the names), decided, as one in heart and 
one in purpose, to take the initiative step toward forming such a 
circle, the plan to be drawn by you. To avoid the first step being 
taken wrong, we, therefore, must look to you to map out our duties, 
especially in the beginning. I was, therefore, appointed to apprise 
you of our earnest good will and desire to do some good beyond 
ourselves, and also to request you to give us some consideration. 

L J expects to call on you this Friday about 4.30 p.m. 

in reference to this. I trust you will give him the encouragement 
we look to receive from you. 

However, if you may consider us yet unripe, we will be repaid 
through your advice how to become fitted for such an undertaking 
which you define truly as " very difficult." 

We have the will — show us the way. 

Wishing you much improved in health, I am very truly yours, 

X Y . 

As soon as my health permitted, I invited the young 
men to spend an evening in my rooms. They all came ^ 

1 Two of them were engaged in a hat factory, one was a book- 
keeper, and one a student in the City College. 



122 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

and we had a most enjoyable evening. They were full 
of quiet, almost solemn, enthusiasm, and eager to begin 
work. I advised them for the present to begin no prac- 
tical work, as a club, but to do what they could individu- 
ally, and, at the same time, to unite in studying the 
needs and conditions of the East Side, their own capa- 
bilities, and the possible methods of reaching the ends 
they had in view. I offered to lend them some books 
that might help them, and then added, " If you devote 
the next six months to finding out what needs to be 
done, and what can be done, it will be time well spent. 
Next winter you can begin work." I strongly advised 
them to be slow in adding to their numbers, and to 
be sure that their new members were in full sympathy 
with their spirit and purpose. 

The little club followed my advice. They set about 
gathering information from all quarters, interviewing 
the men and women engaged in charitable and educa- 
tional work, visiting saloons, pool rooms, etc. They 
made regular written reports of what they saw and 
heard, and held weekly meetings to discuss methods 
and ideals. They spent a second evening with me, tell- 
ing me what they had done and what they proposed 
doing. They have added two to their membership. 

While some of the young men were thus engaged, a 
certain number of the young women were doing phil- 
anthropic work individually, taking reckless girls off 
the streets and inducing them to read and think, or 
giving instruction to those whose education had been 
neglected or who had but recently arrived in the coun- 
try. By my advice these formed themselves into a club, 



THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT 123 

which now works in harmony with the young men's 
club, without uniting with it. Each will probably find 
a special sphere of action. The members of the young 
women's club were soon in great demand to take charge 
of "circles" and "classes" which were opened in the 
neighborhood. So much for philanthropic work. 

With a view to breaking down class feeling and social 
hatred, I arranged a couple of social meetings, to which 
I invited a number of wealthy and cultured people, bot-h 
Jews and Gentiles. The first of these meetings was 
held in the large handsome studio of one of our best 
known sculptors, which proved too small for the occa- 
sion. Nevertheless we spent a most enjoyable evening, 
with music, recitations, addresses, and conversation.^ 

1 Mr, Davidson's account of the movement breaks off abruptly at 
this point. A continuation of the story of its development, furnished 
by members of the class, will be found in Chapter VI. 



CHAPTER V 

THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT AS SHOWN IN THE 
WEEKLY LETTERS TO THE CLASS 

Hurricane P.O., Essex County, N.Y. 
May 4, 1899. 

To THE Class in History and Social Science, in the Educational 
Alliance, New York. 

Dear Friends : In leaving you last Saturday evening 
I felt I was parting not so much from a class as from 
a family. You have all become very dear to me, and, 
whatever the future may bring, your welfare will always 
be my deepest interest. Your parting gifts are among 
my dearest possessions. 

I am hardly settled here yet, and so shall not be 
able to write you a very long letter this week, but I 
cannot let a Saturday pass without sending you a word. 
From eight to ten on the evening of the 6 th I shall 
be with you every moment. I trust you will come 
together that evening, and every succeeding Saturday 
evening till I return, and that you will earnestly pursue 
the good work we have begun together, — the work of 
endeavoring to be simple, upright, pure, heroic men and 
women, rich in knowledge, in sympathy, and in wise 
helpfulness. You know that, if the study of History 
and Social Science do not lead to that, it is all in vain. 
When you meet, therefore, you will do so as friends, 

124 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 125 

who have each other's highest good at heart ; as earnest 
workers who, havmg a common end, need each other's 
sympathy and aid. You will avoid all wrangling and 
disputes and cavilings, and do your best to help each 
other to arrive at truth and to embody it in life. 
Nothing is more frivolous than a debating society, 
nothing more serious than a meeting of souls bent 
upon discovering truth to live by. 

And, after all, if we will but lay aside prejudice 
and superstition, truth is not so hard to find. Indeed, 
every one who is completely honest with himself, and 
is not swayed by tradition or passion, may truthfully 
say : I am the truth ; for the truth is but the expres- 
sion of our deepest nature. What I am and how I am 
related to my fellows, — that is the sum of the truth 
for me. 

You will perhaps think that I am laying out a mighty 
task for you, a task far above your powers and aspira- 
tions; but it is not so. Every great change in indi- 
vidual and social ideals — and we are on the verge of 
such a change — begins small, among simple, earnest 
people, face to face with the facts of life. Ask your- 
selves seriously: Why should not the coming change 
begin with us ? Why should not we be the first to give 
expression to the new ideal in individual and social life ? 
And you will find there is no reason. The new world, 
the world of righteousness, kindliness, and enlighten- 
ment, for which we are all longing and toiling, may 
date from us as well as from anybody. We have only 
to be true to ourselves and the future is ours. To be 
sure we do not count among the great and the mighty 



126 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

of to-day ; but if we are but faithful and brave, the future 
will judge us differently. 

We see dimly in the Present what is small and what is great ; 
Slow of faith, how weak an arm may turn the iron helm of Fate. 

It may be our weak arm if we so will it. Will you 
will it? Then go to work bravely and uncomplain- 
ingly, looking for no reward but the reward of being 
good men and women, of weighing heavy in the scales 
of power. Do not be greatly troubled about money 
making, or about mere economic justice. Money is but 
means, and economic justice can never come till men are 
just through and through. Let us labor then for justice, 
and begin by being just ourselves. Let us remember 
that, until we love each other in all sincerity, we cannot 
be just to each other. Therefore, let us love each other. 
Away with all hatred, envy, and jealousy ! 

I shall try to write to you every week, — a few words 
to be read aloud to the class when it meets. I shall try 
to suggest work for you, and next week I shall send you 
a list of books for summer reading. This week, I sug- 
gest that some one read or recite Lowell's poem, " The 
Present Crisis," and that the class discuss it. It is a 
poem that every one should learn by heart and lay to 
heart. 

Let me hear from you all as often as you can. Tell 
me about your work, and send me your essays and exer- 
cises. Those of you who have already written to me 
shall hear from me as soon as possible. I shall be com- 
pletely settled in a few days, and then things will move 
regularly. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 127 

I wish I could tell you how beautiful these mountains 
are and what peace reigns here. But you must come 
and see for yourselves. I look forward to your visit 
with much pleasure and longing. 

I am always your friend and brother, 

Thomas Davidson. 

Hurricane, May 9, 1899. 

My dear Friends: I am happy to know that you 
had a good meeting on Saturday night. I was with 
you every moment. 

You did well to discuss Socrates, that greatest of 
moral heroes, the inventor of freedom and ethical life. 
He is one of the mighty, and it is well to live with the 
mighty. Before him, men had obeyed a law imposed 
from without ; Socrates sought, and found, the source of 
the moral law within. The outer law enslaves because 
it is not our law ; the inner law frees because it is our 
law. By obeying myself I become free. The moral 
law is nothing more, but also nothing less, than the law 
of our being in the broadest and deepest sense, — the 
law of harmony within and harmony without. When 
all the parts and faculties of our being are working 
together, and in full energy, no one standing in the 
way of another, then we are truly moral. But this is 
impossible unless we are likewise in harmony with the 
world about us, or, to speak strictly, the world organized 
in our consciousness. If I hate or envy my neighbor, 
there is disharmony in me ; I am weak and suffer. 
If I allow my feelings or passions to get beyond the 



128 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

control of my reason, there is disharmony in me ; I have 
lost my integrity and I am no longer an integer. I am 
a chaos of fragments, and, with such a chaos, no true life 
can be lived. If I pursue the means of living with such 
devotion as to forget the end, I am once more in dis- 
harmony with myself. I am leading an utterly immoral 
life. One of you wrote in the album, ''Out of the scat- 
tered knowledge within me you have made a cosmos." 
I hope I am not vain enough to make any such lofty 
claim ; but the friend who wrote that saw into my deep- 
est intent, and grasped a principle which will guide all 
his life henceforth. He will ever strive to be a cosmos, 
and that is what each of us should be, — an ordered 
world. Each of us should be able to say, I and the 
world are one. Be an integer; be a cosmos! — that 
is the fundamental moral law. 

No one ever saw this truth more clearly than Socrates ; 
none ever lived up to it more unflinchingly. He was all 
peace within. Neither life nor death had any terrors 
for him. The world that for others was a chaos was 
a cosmos for him because there was a cosmos in him. 
No one could prevent him from knowing rightly, loving 
rightly, and willing rightly, and so he could smile at the 
worst his chaotic enemies could do against him. They 
triumphed for an hour. He triumphs forever ; and even 
they will one day share in the triumph. He is the father 
of freedom and of science (the two are inseparable), and 
you could do nothing better than study his life — not as 
an authority, but as an example. His great vision was 
misinterpreted and marred by his two great successors, 
Plato and Aristotle, but, through all their clouds of 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 129 

dogma and formalism, we can still see the true Socrates, 
simple, sincere, heroic. 

I send you, herewith, a list of twenty books for sum- 
mer reading, — a list compiled without any attempt at 
order, but with the view of suiting every taste.^ It would 
be a fine thing if you would take Martineau's " Types 
of Ethical Theory " and devote an hour each Saturday 
evening to a discussion of it, chapter by chapter. Let 
the chapters be distributed among the class, to be epit- 
omized and presented in succession for consideration. 
You will find such work extremely stimulating and 
enlightening, and I will do all I can to help you. 

I send you also a little essay of mine, written twelve 
years ago, but still substantially representing my views 
on education — " The Conditions, Divisions, and Methods 
of Complete Education." Some Saturday evening, when 
you have nothing better to do, you might read and dis- 
cuss it. Several of you, I know, intend to be teachers, 

1 Following is the list of books referred to: (1) Schwegler, "His- 
tory of Philosophy " (German or English); (2) Herodotus, " History " 
(Rawlinson's translation); (3) Cox, "The Greeks and the Persians" ; 
(4) Dickinson, " The Greek View of Life " ; (5) Montesquieu, " Spirit 
of the Laws"; (6) Freeman, "Comparative Politics"; (7) White, 
"History of the Warfare of Science with Theology" ; (8) Baldwin, 
"Mental Development in the Child and in the Race" ; (9) Miiller 
(Max), "Biographies of Words"; (10) Ruskin, "Unto this Last"; 

(11) Wundt, "Grundriss der Psychologic" (German or English); 

(12) Martineau, "Types of Ethical Theory"; (13) Rogers, "Six 
Centuries of Work and Wages"; (14) George Eliot, "Romola"; 
(15) Tennyson, "Idylls of the King"; (16) Davidson, "Rousseau, 
and Education according to Nature"; (17) Darwin, "The Descent 
of Man " ; (18) Stallo, " Concepts and Theories of Modern Physics "; 
(19) de la Saussaye, " Manual of the Science of Religion " ; (20) Hux- 
ley, "Lay Sermons," "Addresses and Reviews." 



130 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

and I should like them to consider what can be done 
to reform our educational methods and ideals, which we 
all feel to be defective and far behind the needs of our 
time. Perhaps some day we may be able together to 
found an educational institution such as I have sketched, 
and so to meet a crying need. Several institutions of* 
the sort already exist in England, as you will see if 
you read M. Demolins's work, " L 'Education Nouvelle." 
I think it would be entirely possible to improve upon 
these in America, and to found institutions which should 
really express and cultivate the national spirit of free 
individuality. 

You see, I am expecting great things of you. I want 
you to feel that there is just as much chance for heroes, 
saints, and prophets at the present day as there ever was. 
All the divine that ever was in the world is in it still. 
The world did not look any more heroic in the days of 
Isaiah, Simon Maccabseus, or Csesar than it does now. 
But they were heroes, all the same, and so you can be if 
you will. Most of you have stood, or are still standing, 
" face to face with life's prime needs and agonies," and 
that is an education for goodness and greatness such as 
it is impossible to match. All depends upon yourselves. 
You can be pygmies or giants, just as you please. 

I shall be with you next Saturday evening, and am 
always, Affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 131 

Hurricane, May 17, 1899. 

My dear Friends: Nothing could give me greater 
pleasure than to know that you are conducting fruitful 
meetings in my absence. The sooner a teacher makes 
himself useless the better. It is a great fault with 
some teachers that they remain always necessary. I do 
not wish to count among these, but hope to be obliter- 
ated in a short time. It has always been my aim to 
make my pupils self-directing at the earliest moment. 

Some of you, I understand, do not agree with my 
views regarding Plato and his socialistic "Republic." 
I am very glad to hear that, and hope you will oppose 
them with all your might, taking care, however, to 
inform yourselves carefully as to what Plato really 
taught. I think I once recommended the " Republic " 
to the class as a book to read. In combating views, 
you will, of course, do so in a spirit of earnestness and 
fairness, refraining from all personalities and all asperity. 
If you can show me that my views regarding Plato are 
wrong, I shall be proud to learn from you, and shall alter 
my statements in the next edition of my book. Will 
not some of you tell me what views of mine you think 
incorrect, showing me the passages in the " Republic " 
which are opposed to them ? We can then have a very 
profitable discussion. 

In Plato's time people in Greece were beginning 
to think seriously about social institutions, which had 
previously been accepted as a matter of course. As 
always happens under such circumstances, they found 
their ideal in a socialistic state, in which everything 
was to be regulated, and every one's place fixed, with 



132 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

mathematical exactness. All immature thinking tends 
to be mathematical. In the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries, when men for the second time were beginning 
to think critically about social institutions, numerous 
schemes of ideal socialistic states were proposed by 
Campanella, More, Bacon, and others. But, in all 
cases, mature thought rejected these youthful schemes, 
and recognized that human institutions are governed 
by laws that set at defiance the imagined Utopias of 
any one man. Plato himself, toward the close of his 
life, practically discarded his ideal socialistic ''Repub- 
lic," and worked out a scheme far more in accordance 
with reality. It is very instructive to compare the 
"Republic" with the later "Laws." 

Various attempts were made, in ancient times, to 
realize Plato's " Republic " (for example by Plotinus) ; 
but nothing ever came of them. The only realization 
it has ever, found is the Roman Catholic Church of the 
Middle Age, whose constitution I should advise all 
admirers of Plato to study. 

I sincerely trust that the socialistic members of the 
class, if there be any, will not imagine that I have any 
prejudice against them. Far from it. It is true, I do 
not find it possible to be a socialist myself, but many 
of my friends are, and I believe that the socialist move- 
ment has done much good in arousing the world to a 
sense of the injustice due'to present social arrangements, 
and also that it is a step toward something very much 
better, — something which, while giving an opportunity 
to every human being to attain the highest develop- 
ment (which is also the highest happiness), will leave 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 133 

individual liberty and initiative uncurtailed. The dis- 
covery of that higher sometMng is really the problem 
of the present day. Which of you can think out a 
scheme which shall embody all the advantages of social- 
ism combined with all the advantages of anarchism ; all 
the blessings of material well-being combined with all 
the blessings of liberty? 

In trying to do so, you must bear in mind that your 
scheme must not be stationary, but progressive, — must 
leave room for evolution. The scheme of Plato, and 
those of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were 
all stationary, leaving no place for progressive change, — ■ 
for evolution. Indeed, the notion of evolution, in its 
modern sense, had not yet dawned upon men. Now it 
is the most important and fruitful of all notions. No 
social system can be permanent without being fatal. 
Every one must change by evolution, or revolution. 
All life is change. Our very bodies, if they should 
cease to change for one minute, would die. What is 
all legislation but formulated social change? 

Another thing must be carefully borne in mind, viz., 
that any scheme, to be of use, must be realizable ; and 
this implies two things, first, that it take full account 
of present conditions, that is, the conditions which have 
to be transformed ; second, that it pay due regard to 
all the demands of human nature, since these are the 
very things which the new conditions have to satisfy. 
It is easy to see that our present conditions are such 
that no scheme of pure socialism, or pure anarchism, has 
any chance of realization, no matter how ideally just 
it might be. Again, a scheme which provided only for 



134 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

man's material needs, important as these are, would 
have no chance of success. Human nature demands 
more than food, clothing, and shelter, no matter how 
rich and elaborate these may be. Indeed, the higher 
human nature rises, the more do these lose in compar- 
ative importance. What good man or woman would 
care to remain on the vulgar level of fashionable society, 
to belong to the " Four Hundred " who revel in eco- 
nomic wealth, but in higher respects are beggars? A 
scheme to place all the people of New York on the 
level of the " Four Hundred " would fail, as it certainly 
ought to do. 

I am glad to hear that you are going to discuss my 

little pamphlet, and that Professor G is going 

to lecture for you. 

I am always affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 



Hurricane, May 23, 1899. 

My dear Friends : I am much pleased to learn that, 
at your last meeting, the idea of forming yourselves 
into a society for practical work was mooted. That 
is the result I have been aiming at; for, after all, it is 
by its practice that any association is finally judged. 
If our meetings and studies do not result in noble lives 
and beneficent work, we have met and studied in vain. 

I am glad you like the programme of the " Fellow- 
ship of the New Life " which I sent to several of you. 
Ere it could become the basis of your society, several 
things in it would have to be removed, or modified. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 135 

I could point these out; but you would do well to 
consider it sentence by sentence and clause by clause. 
To form a society that shall accomplish permanent 
good among mankind is, as I know from experience, 
very difficult. If the first steps be false, all will be 
false and vain. Two things, above all, are requisite, — 
clear insight into what is needful and possible, and 
single-minded determination to realize the same; in 
a word, right knowledge and right will. No associa- 
tion can do permanent good which does not under- 
stand human nature, human society, and the forces 
which govern them, or which does not clearly realize 
the nature and conditions of human well-being. The 
same is true of any society which has not the purity 
and strength of will to set aside all merely pei^onal 
interests, and devote itself to the task which it recog- 
nizes. The great requisites are scientific insight and 
apostolic fervor. With these, wonders may be done. 
Your society, therefore, should aim at knowledge, 
through study and experience, and at enthusiasm and 
self-forgetfulness, through sympathy and love. You 
should begin with yourselves, making sure that your 
society is one in heart, and one in purpose. In a word, 
you must love one another as brothers and sisters, and 
as citizens of a republic that doth not yet appear, but 
which you are determined to create. Love is boundless 
power. It has been said " God is love," and I suspect 
that it is the only correct definition. He who has true, 
unselfish love in his heart is inspired by God, has God 
dwelling in him. Having learned to love one another, 
you will find it is not so hard to love other people, even 



136 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

those who are now repellent to yon. Compassion will 
take the place of alienation, and your only thought will 
be, How can we help these poor, unlovely souls to 
truth and goodness? You must remember that these 
souls are parts of your world, blemishes which, for the 
sake even of your own souls, you must remove. One 
of you spoke of the East Side as a ''hell." If that 
be true, then each of you has a hell in his world. Are 
you willing to have that? Think how much more 
glorious your lives would be if the East Side were 
a heaven? Christians have, for nearly two thousand 
years, been praying to God, " Thy will be done on earth 
as it is done in heaven," and earth is not a heaven yet, 
and will not be until we substitute earnest work for 
prayer, — until, with knowledge and enthusiasm, we 
form a league, a conspiracy against ignorance, selfishness, 
and wickedness. Your society must be such a league. 

We have already done something to increase knowl- 
edge among ourselves, and the result, I am happy to 
think, has been a growth of enthusiasm. We are on 
the right path, and I think I see how we can advance 
farther on it. I think we are even now where we might 
begin some practical work in a quiet, unobtrusive way. 
The question is. What work ? Perhaps you can answer 
that question better than I can. You know the needs 
and conditions of the East Side better than I do. One 
thing is certain, — you can all be in your own lives models 
of kindness, helpfulness, and strength. You can each 
be a living light in dark places. You can overcome evil 
with good, and make the evil ashamed of itself. Per- 
haps each of you knows of ^some one lonely, suffering, 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 137 

or' erring soul that would be glad of sympathy, help, or 
counsel. Give that soul what it needs ; win it over to 
friendliness, contentment, and goodness, and you will 
have done a good work. Perhaps you know of some 
family in which the father is dissipated, drunken, or out 
of work, and the mother is slaving her life away, unable 
to take care of her children or her home. Go and offer 
her your help, simply and sweetly, as if she were your 
sister. Take care of her children for an hour, wash 
them, comb their hair, and amuse them. Put her home 
in order; scrub the floors if necessary; clean the win- 
dows. Make her feel that angels of light are entering 
when you '' dawn through the doorway." Remember 
that no work, however menial or coarse, is degrading, if 
performed in the spirit of love. Perhaps some of you 
could gather a few of the children out of the street, for 
an hour or two, into your homes, and instruct them. To 
the older children you might read. If you do work of 
this sort, your own lives will grow in interest and hap- 
piness, and you will find those whom you help ready to 
listen to your truth. Truth practiced before spoken is 
very impressive. 

When we have advanced a little farther we shall, I 
hope, undertake larger tasks ; but those I have men- 
tioned form an excellent preparation. If I am strong 
enough next winter, I hope to give a course of Sunday 
lectures at the Alliance, and, in these, to sketch a plan 
for practical work. But I can say now, that any plan 
worth undertaking must rest upon a new view of the 
world and of man's relation to it, — a view based upon 
the most comprehensive science and philosophy. That 



138 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

view will tell us that we, instead of being mere created 
things subject to divine caprice, are ourselves divine, and 
that, instead of worshiping God, our business is to live 
God. It will call upon us to do for ourselves and others 
what we formerly besought God to do ; in a word, to bear 
ourselves as gods, to be holy, pure, righteous, merciful, 
helpful. Moreover, it will call upon us to make a heaven 
here on earth. Where there are divine beings there 
ought to be a heaven, and we are divine. Our suffering 
and erring brothers and sisters too are divine, and there 
can be no perfect heaven for any of us until all are cit- 
izens of it. If we could only look upon ourselves and 
our fellow-men in this light, how we should be inspired 
to work for the realization of heaven ! How all selfish- 
ness, hatred, vanity, envy would disappear ! How love, 
sympathy, blessedness would grow ! It is no wonder 
that when man regards himself as a fallen being, an out- 
cast from Eden, a worm of the dust, he should behave 
himself as such. Let him believe that he is a god in the 
making, and he will behave accordingly. He will feel 
what is due to his own divinity, and will be ashamed 
to stoop to selfish or unworthy deeds. I shall have 
much more to say of this hereafter, when we are again 
together. 

I am sorry that my pamphlet on education is out of 
print ; but I send you the few copies that remain in my 
possession. 

I am very glad that Dr. E is going to lecture to 

you. He lives the life that I should wish you all to 
lead. Like a divinity, he is doing his best to make a 
heaven upon earth. I trust you will often have the 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 139 

opportuDity of listening both to him, and to Professor 

G , who will be with you next Saturday. 

I am longing to see you all again. But, while I am 
away from you, I am made very happy by the thought 
that you are looking forward to earnest work. 

I am always affectionately yours, 

• Thomas Davidson. 

Hurricane, May 31, 1899. 

My dear Friends: I was greatly pleased to hear 

about Professor G 's lecture, and about the hearty 

reception you gave him. 

I have no doubt he enjoyed meeting you very much. 

I know that Mr. A , who accompanied him, did ; for 

in a letter he says : " I had my eyes opened to new con- 
ditions. I have not met so earnest a body of young 
women and men in a long time." That is the report 
I want to hear. Give me earnestness, and I can do 
anything. 

I am happy to know that my dear friend Dr. W is 

going to talk to you. He will prove worthy of .his name, 
I have no doubt. He is a man with a great future. 

As I sit here on my veranda, in these beautiful 
woods, facing the sunset, I think of you all in the hot 
city, with its dust and noise and ugliness, many of you 
engaged in uncongenial occupations, and I feel almost 
ashamed of myself for not being with you. My only 
comfort and excuse is, that I am doing my best to gain 
strength and lay plans to be more useful to you in the 
future. Not an hour passes but I think of you, and wish 



140 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

I were with you. And yet I rejoice to think that you 
are doing such good work without me. You are not 
dependent upon any man or men. 

I have no doubt there is many an hour when you 
feel that your lives are cramped, and that you have not 
the opportunities for self-development that you ought 
to have. That is a right and a worthy fueling. I have 
felt it many a time, for there is not one among you 
whose circumstances are more adverse or unpromising 
than mine were in boyhood and youth. I have had to 
fight single-handed for everything: for livelihood, for 
education, for culture, yea, for moral life. My sym- 
pathies, therefore, go out to you in all your toils, strug- 
gles, and aspirations. I am one of you, and am proud 
to be one of you. 

I tell you this because I think my long, hard fight, 
and partial victory, have taught me the way to over- 
come adverse circumstances, and make life not only 
worth living, but the greatest of blessings. Perhaps 
I may best express the results of my experience in a 
few numbered sentences, or aphorisms: 

1. Rely upon yourself and your own energies, and 
do not wait for, or depend upon, other people. 

2. Cling, with all your might, to your own highest 
ideals, and be not led astray by such vulgar aims as 
wealth, position, popularity, etc. Be yourself. 

3. Remember that your worth consists in what you 
are, and not in what you have. What you are will 
show in what you do. 

4. Never fret, repine, or envy. Do not make your- 
self unhappy by comparing your circumstances with 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 141 

those of more fortunate people ; but make the most of 
the opportunities you have. Employ profitably every 
moment of time. 

5. Associate with the noblest people you can find; 
read the best books ; live with the mighty. But learn 
to be happy alone. 

6. Do not believe that all greatness and heroism are 
in the past. Learn to discover princes, prophets, heroes, 
and saints among the people about you. Be assured 
they are there. 

7. Be on earth what good people hope to be in 
heaven. 

8. Cultivate ideal friendships, and gather into an 
intimate circle all your acquaintances who are hunger- 
ing for truth and right. Remember that heaven itself 
can be nothing but the intimacy of pure and noble 
souls. 

9. Do not shrink from any useful or kindly act, 
however hard or repellent it may be. The worth of acts 
is measured by the spirit in which they are performed, 

10. If the world despise you because you do not fol- 
low in its ways, pay no heed to it. But be sure your 
way is right. 

11. If a thousand plans fail, be not disheartened. As 
long as your purposes are right, you have not failed. 

12. Examine yourself every night, and see whether 
you have progressed in knowledge, sympathy, and help- 
fulness during the day. Count every day a loss in 
which no progress has been made. 

13. Seek enjoyment in energy, not in dalliance. 
Our worth is measured solely by what we do. 



142 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

14. Let not your goodness be professional ; let it be 
the simple, natural outcome of your character. There- 
fore, cultivate character. 

15. If you do wrong, say so, and make what atone- 
ment you can. That is true nobleness. Have no 
moral debts. 

16. When you are in doubt how to act, ask yourself. 
What does nobility command ? Be on good terms with 
yourself. 

17. Look for no reward for goodness but goodness 
itself. Remember heaven and hell are utterly immoral 
institutions if they are meant as reward and punishment. 

18. Give whatever countenance and help you can 
to every movement and institution that is working for 
good. Be not sectarian. 

19. Wear no placards, within or without. Be human 
fully. 

20. Never be satisfied until you have understood 
the meaning of the world, and the purpose of your own 
life, and have reduced your world to a rational cosmos. 

These are the precepts by which I have tried to guide 
my life. It is needless to say that I have often failed 
to obey them ; but I can say that I never did so with- 
out deep regret and suffering. They have made life 
very glorious. It could do you no harm, I think, to try 
to live by them. 

Now good-bye. I may see you sooner than I thought. 

I am most affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 143 

It 

Hurricane, June 7, 1899. 

My dear Friends: I was very sorry to learn that 

Dr. E was not with you last Saturday, for I was 

sure you would enjoy listening to him. I hear that 
some of you objected to certain statements in my little 
pamphlet on education. Probably I should now do 
the same thing, for I have learned some things in the 
last ten years, and it is more than that since the pam- 
phlet was written. I shall be satisfied if it has given 
occasion for a good discussion on the meaning and scope 
of education. 

I learn that the question of your doing something as 
a club was again up before you. That is a most encour- 
aging sign, and I hope you will go on till you find an 
appropriate task. I believe that all true association 
has for its bond a task, — something definite to do. The 
question you have to put to yourselves is. What is there 
needing to be done that we can do ? Having answered 
that, you will do well to consider whether you can work 
best individually, or as a club, or both ways. You must 
see around you much that needs to be reformed ; per- 
haps some of you are fitted for one thing, some for 
another. Let each undertake what he can do best, and 
compare notes with all the rest. 

But there is one task which you certainly can under- 
take now with reasonable hope of success, and that is, 
the establishment of ideal relations among yourselves. 
There is nothing that the world of to-day needs so much 
as a new order of social relations, — a new feeling between 
man and man. We may talk and teach as long as 
we like, but until we have a new society, with ideal 



144 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

relations and aims, we have accomplislied very little. 
All great world movements begin with a little knot of 
people who, in their individual lives, and in their rela- 
tions to each other, realize the ideal that is to be. To 
live truth is better than to utter it. Isaiah would have 
prophesied in vain, had he not gathered around him a 
little band of disciples who lived according to his ideal. 
''The formation of this little community," says one of 
our greatest scholars, " was a new thing in the history 
of religion. Till then no one had dreamed of a fellow- 
ship of faith dissociated from all national forms, main- 
tained without the exercise of ritual services, bound 
together by faith in the divine word alone. It was tlie 
birth of a new era in the Old Testament religion." It 
was out of this little community that Judaism with its 
law and its world-wide significance grew. Again, what 
would the teaching of Jesus have amounted to, had he 
not collected a body of disciples who made it their life 
aim to put his teachings into practice? To nothing, 
we may be sure. These disciples were called " saints " 
(ayLOL)y and we possess a very early description of their 
mode of life in a letter addressed to some of them. 
Here are a few sentences from it : " Ye were all lovely 
in mind and free from arrogance, yielding rather than 
claiming submission, more glad to give than to receive. 
. . . Then a profound and rich peace was given to 
all, and an insatiable desire of doing good. ... Ye 
were sincere and simple, and free from malice one 
toward another. ... Ye mourned over the transgres- 
sions of your neighbors ; ye judged their shortcomings 
to be your own. Ye repented not of any welldoing, 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 145 

but were ready for every good work." These are ideal 
relations, worthy of saints. 

I might easily multiply examples, but these two will 
suffice to show the extreme value of ideal association. 
But you will perhaps say, " Yes, but, in both cases, the 
society was bound together, not only by a purpose or 
task, but also by a series of ethical precepts, and by 
certain supernatural beliefs," and you will ask, " What 
can we have in the place of these ? " The statement is 
correct, and the question pertinent. I think it would 
be quite possible to frame a new series of ethical pre- 
cepts which should do for our time what the Deutero- 
nomic law did for the time of Isaiah, and the Sermon on 
the Mount for that of Jesus. There would be no harm 
in your trying to do so. Again, the place of super- 
natural beliefs must now be taken by scientific and philo- 
sophic truth regarding man's nature, origin, and destiny, 
and I believe the latter is quite able to fill that place. 
Faith never promised us anything which science cannot 
assure us of. What a fine thing it would be if, in a 
quiet, reverent spirit, "free from arrogance," you were 
to consider together, first, the moral law demanded by 
the present ; second, the scientific bases for those truths 
which are required to give life a meaning, and to make 
the world a cosmos. The effect of such discussions, car- 
ried on earnestly, would be most edifying and ennobling, 
especially if you steadily endeavored to agree with each 
other, instead of trying to differ. You will perhaps say, 
" Such things are too high for us." Let me answer in 
the words of the eighth psalm, " Out of the mouth of 
babes and sucklings thou hast created power." 



146 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

When, after careful consideration, you have framed 
a new moral law, such as you feel ought to prevail, the 
next thing is, to bind yourselves to live up to it. That 
will, no doubt, require a considerable amount of disci- 
pline, and to this you must enthusiastically submit. 
All new life ideals have been reached through disci- 
pline, much of it painful. Are you ready for this? 

If you undertake the task I have suggested, you will 
soon find that it involves many others. Your new 
Torah (n"11'ri) will inevitably entail upon you many 
duties and tasks. Just think of the effect of such a 
commandment as this, " Be all that thou canst be, 
and do all that thou canst do, at every moment ; " or 
this, "Thou shalt hold thyself, in thy degree, respon- 
sible for all the evil and suffering there is in the 
world ; " or this, " Forget not that the more wicked and 
vile a man is, the more he needs thy kindly care." 

Think these things over, and believe me 

Affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 



Hurricane, June 14, 1899. 

My dear Friends: I am much pleased to know 

that Dr. W was with you last Saturday; but I 

fear you were not quite sympathetic toward his ideas. 
I must confess that I am, as you can see from my 
lecture published recently in the American Hebrew, 
I have there given my reasons for favoring Zionism. 

I think the objections to Zionism are due mainly to 
a misunderstanding of its aims. Some people seem to 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 147 

think that it aims at removing the whole of the Jews to 
Palestine. This is an entire mistake. Others think that 
Zionism has its origin and meaning in the old prophets. 
This is again a mistake. Some of you think it would 
stand in the way of more universal schemes. I cannot see 
why it should. Some of you, who favor universal level- 
ing, are afraid that any distinction between peoples would 
stand in the way of that. In my opinion, universal level- 
ing would be a great calamity, a degradation. All evo- 
lution goes toward unity and harmony in variety. For 
the highest order of being the variety is just as necessary 
as the unity. To reduce all men and peoples to a com- 
mon type would be like playing a piece of music on one 
note. This would be admirably simple, but utterly mo- 
notonous and dreary. For my part, I should like to see 
the Hebrews retain their characteristics, just as I like to 
see my own countrymen do. Even the climatic condi- 
tions of our globe make differences of race characteristics 
a necessity. If the Jews should be absorbed now, this 
would mean that they would become Christians, which in 
my opinion is very undesirable. The Jewish religion is 
far more rational than the Christian, and, indeed. Chris- 
tians, as they advance, come nearer and nearer to Judaism. 
No doubt, in the future, all traditional supernaturalism 
and miraculism will disappear, and men will meet upon 
a common scientific and rational ground ; but that day is 
far off, and even when it comes it will not blot out race 
differences. The Jews owe it to themselves and to 
humanity to hold their own against the all-devouring 
dogmatism of Christianity. They have done a great work 
in the past, and they can do a great work in the future. 



148 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

Different religions and social types belong to differ- 
ent grades of mental and moral development. To think 
that we can impose one type upon all men is utterly 
chimerical. One should be too religious to profess any 
one religion ; too social to be content with any one type 
of society. As time goes on, men will, no doubt, under- 
stand each other better; but unless the interaction of 
different ideals, so necessary to progress, is to cease, 
wide differences, both individual and racial, must for- 
ever remain. The very interest of life is due to its 
variety. Though I should like to see the Jews drop 
their supernaturalism, I should be very sorry to see 
them lost in the great sea of Christian society. It 
must be clearly borne in mind that universal human 
well-being does not mean universal leveling, or the 
obliteration of all institutions but one. Plato tried to 
make the state all in all; but he lived long enough 
to see the impracticability of this. And just as the 
family must continue to exist in the state, so, I hope, 
the Jews will continue to live in the great family of 
the nations. I do not believe that anything would be 
gained by merging the states of the American Union 
into one. But I have expressed all this better in my 
lecture, which I hope you will read. 

When I was talking to you in the winter I tried to 
show you that there is not much use in striving after 
impossible ideals, or of seeking reform without taking 
due account of that which you desire to reform. We 
may cherish Utopian ideals in our bosoms as much as 
we like, placing them in a far-off indefinite future, 
where they really belong ; but we only waste time when 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 149 

we try to realize them now. Humanity's progress is 
slow and painful. When it seems to take a great leap 
at once it generally falls back to its previous position, 
and then begins its slow progress as before. This 
was strikingly exemplified in the French Revolution. 
France is not one whit farther advanced than if the 
Revolution had not taken place. She grasped at too 
much, and lost all. Every great social change pre- 
supposes a great change in the moral status of the 
individuals composing society, and such change is nec- 
essarily slow and hesitant. All change is, primarily, 
inner change. The outer changes follow upon these. 
But there lingers in many minds the notion that by 
some kind of miracle man can suddenly be transformed, 
and fitted into a ready-made scheme. Such schemes 
have been propounded since the days of Plato; but 
not one has ever come near realization. The forest is 
continually asserting itself against the landscape gar- 
dener. Mankind is too large to be fitted into any 
scheme. ^'Gesetz ist mdehtig, mdcJitiger ist die Noth^^'' 
says Goethe. And, after all, Utopian schemes are meant 
to satisfy the needs of some one man or body of men. 
Plato writes his " Republic " to show what social 
arrangements would make him happy. Of course 
being a philosopher, he makes philosophers the gov- 
erning class. 

It takes a very profound knowledge of history to 
enable one to see what is practical and what is not, 
and to be patient with the slow movement of mankind. 
When we are young, we believe in social and other 
miracles ; as we grow older, we learn that there are no 



150 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

such things, and content ourselves with attempting the 
possible. I believe Zionism is possible now ; universal 
human regeneration is not. But Zionism is a step 
toward that regeneration. 
Good-bye, dear friends. 

I am always affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 



Hurricane, June 21, 1899. 

My dear Friends : I have received letters from many 
of you this week. You must not be impatient if the 
state of my health compels me to defer answering them 
for a few days. I will answer them as soon as I can. 

I am sorry that Mr. F has resigned the presidency 

of the club. I trust he is still loyal to us and our cause, 
and I hope he will soon be here. I am comforted by the 
knowledge that he has been succeeded by an earnest man. 

It is a great joy to me to know that the club is 
increasing in numbers. I trust that therewith there 
will come no disharmony, and no attempt to draw the 
club off into side issues. It is far more important that 
the club should be harmonious, and that its members 
should lead a noble life, than that they should profess 
any creed capable of formulation. We should be men 
and women before we are anything else. You can do 
far more by presenting to the world the example of 
noble social relations than by enumerating any set of 
principles. Deed, and not creed, is the great thing. 
Know all you can, love all you can, do all you can, 
• — that is the whole duty of man. How large and 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 151 

beautiful the world becomes, when one earnestly tries 
to fulfill this duty ! How all littleness, meanness, and 
unhappiness disappear ! 

If you want to be socialists, be such in this way, — 
hold whatever you own as a trust for the use of all. 
State socialism is at best a long way off; but there 
is a socialism that you can practice now without any 
loss of liberty. Make yourselves acquainted with each 
other; learn each other's needs; be ready with sym- 
pathy, and when possible with a helping hand. No 
one is humiliated or degraded by the help that love 
gives. There is much that you can teach each other ; 
there is many a sorrow that you can alleviate for each 
other. Be friends, in the truest sense, to each other. 
There is nothing in all the world like friendship, when 
it is deep and real. And yet how rare is friend- 
ship in our modern world ! And how barren is the 
world because of its absence ! The greatest of ancient 
thinkers said, "Without friends no one would choose 
jto live, though he possessed all other blessings." Is 
it not a wonder that so many people choose to live ? 
Aristotle, who uttered the above words, devotes two 
books of his "Ethics" to friendship. What modern 
writer would think that necessary? Imagine a world 
in which every human being were a joy to every other ! 
Would not that be heaven ? Is it not worth while try- 
ing to realize that heaven in your own little circle? 
The last evening I was with you I had a foretaste of 
heaven, just because the sight of every one of you was 
a joy to me. Why should not our entire lives be like 
that evening? Can't you help to make them so? 



152 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

If you examine the records of the past, you will find 
that all great movements have had two characteristics : 
(1) they have begun with a little knot of earnest peo- 
ple ; (2) they have broken with the life of the past. 
There is no method of reforming the whole world at 
once, or of transforming old institutions. We must 
appropriate the whole experience of the past, and begin 
anew. This is the method of philosophy and of life. 
We shall preach reform in vain till doomsday, unless 
we show reform in our own lives and relations. A liv- 
ing example is worth a thousand precepts. The world 
is moved not by doctrines, but by lives. Among the 
minor works of Goethe is a sort of allegory called Das 
Marehen, in which he has symbolized the new move- 
ment in a striking way. See if you can interpret it. It 
occurs in the Unterhaltungen deutsoJier Ausgewanderten. 

When I think what life is for most, and what it might 
be, I am struck with horror and amazement. There is 
no reason why this world should not be a paradise, and 
life full of joy and certain hope. And why are things 
so bad ? Simply because we devote our attention to our 
little selves, and not to our large selves. My little self 
is this creature bounded and burdened by a body ; my 
large self is the whole universe, or, for practical pur- 
poses, the whole of mankind. If every human being 
sought his good in the good of all, how blessed the world 
would be ! Can you not exemplify this spirit in your 
own little circle? That would be far better than 
preaching universal leveling. 

Though I am very much opposed, as you know, to 
placards and creeds, yet every society must have certain 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 153 

definite aims, and those aims involve certain principles. 
In the past, the leading principles of life have been sup- 
posed to be miraculously revealed; at present, they 
must be derived from science, or rather from philosophy, 
which is the science of sciences. When we have truth, 
we need no placards. No sect calls itself the Mathe- 
maticians, or the Logicians. Placards always imply 
absence of science. If Christian truth were universally 
accepted, nobody would think of calling himself a Chris- 
tian. Humanity needs no placard, but only that which 
is less than humanity. If, then, you wish to found a 
permanent society, you must look for its principles in 
philosophy, in demonstrated truth, or, if you prefer, in 
human nature as understood. You must be able to tell 
whence you came, what you are, whither you are going, 
and how you can reach your goal. You must not begin 
your life programme with "I believe," but with "I 
know." 

And now good-bye. I wish I could be with you, or 
you with me. I am glad, for your sake, that the weather 
is cooler. Take plenty of outdoor exercise, to keep 
your bodies and minds in healthy condition. 

I am affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 



Hurricane, June 28, 1899, 
My dear Friends : I find I am threatened with a 
scolding if I don't give you an account of the state of 
my health, and as I am not fond of scoldings, I will tell 
you a little about it. 



154 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

I am very far from well ; I am suffering from a mal- 
ady which has been growing on me for nearly ten years, 
and which, I fear, cannot be cured without an operation 
of a dangerous sort. I am suffering a great deal from 
nervous depression, and am greatly impeded from my 
work, but I keep up my courage and hope for the best. 
I do what I can do, and do not worry about what I can't 
do. If the worst should come to the worst, I am not 
afraid. Death cannot interrupt my activity, but I should 
be sorry to leave you just when I am learning to love 
you and to appreciate your goodness and your heroic 
struggles. I should like to be with you a few years yet, 
and I sincerely trust that I shall be. Don't worry about 
me. Write to me, and send me your essays, and I will 
do the best I can for you. I may not reply or return 
the essays immediately, but I will do so as rapidly as 
my strength permits. Your letters and essays are among 
my chief delights in these invalid days. 

I am asked about my plans for next winter. It is 
impossible for me to say much about these until I know 
what the Trustees of the Alliance are willing to do for 
me in the way of rooms and appliances, and what aid I 
can get from outside. I want, of course, to do all I can, 
and I think I can get the assistance of several friends. 
I hope I may be able to give a series of lectures on Sun- 
day afternoons, and to carry on my class on Saturday 
evenings. I am thinking of taking up, as the basis of 
my work in the latter, Goethe's "Faust," and dealing 
with the great problems involved in it. It is the great 
poem of the modern world, and a liberal education in 
itself. I hope you will all read the poem either in 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 155 

German or in English during the summer, so as to be 
ready for the winter's work. I hope your new president 
will be able to pay me a visit here, so that we may 
talk matters over and make out a programme. 

One of you has sent me an excellent epitome of Dar- 
win's "Descent of Man," which I hope will be read to 
the class. 

I entirely approve of your effort to organize your sum- 
mer work, and would suggest that you make Martineau's 
" Types of Ethical Theory " the basis of it, writing essays 
on the different types and presenting them on successive 
evenings. You will find that very instructive and 
elevating. Another suitable book is Freeman's " Com- 
parative Politics." You will do well to read a poem 
every meeting. Among those most suitable for your 
purpose are : 

Lowell, "The Present Crisis"; Tennyson, "Palace of Art," 
"Lady Clara Yere de Vere," " Rizpali," "Locksley Hall," 
and "Yastness" ; Emerson, " Boston Hymn," and " Ode sung 
in the Town Hall, Concord, July 4, 1875"; Mrs. Browning, 
"Cry of the Children"; Swinburne, "Super Flumina Baby- 
lonis"; Byron, "Prisoner of Chillon " ; Burns, "Man was 
made to mourn." 

You will find many fine pieces in Palgrave's " Golden 
Treasury " and in Emerson's " Parnassus." 

I should like if one of you would read Lewes's "Life 
of Goethe," and another of you Diinzer's (translated), and 
each write an essay on the poet's career. Goethe was 
the great seer of the century, and you ought to know 
all about him. Those who know German should read 
Wilhelm Meister and Hermann und Dorothea, and write 



156 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

papers on them. It would be well if you would all 
commit a good many poems to memory as treasures for 
after life and exercises in English. 

I wish I knew your individual needs more than I do, 
so that I might the better serve you. I hope, too, that 
you will enter into each other's lives more than is gen- 
erally done at present, and be like guardian angels to 
each other. You never know till you try how much life 
is sweetened by intimate friendships. 

Let me know what you would like me to do next 
winter and I will try to do it. I should like to live on 
tlie East Side if I could find a quiet place, write my 
books, and see you often. We might, I think, form a 
little society of which Isaiah or Plato would not be 
ashamed — a society which should be known for its 
high moral aspirations and its good works — a kind of 
divine commonwealth of which each member should try 
to live a divine life. This, I know, seems a high-flown 
idea, but it is strange what ideals men can attain when 
they are really in earnest. Jesus undertook to establish 
a "kingdom of heaven" upon earth, and, if there had 
been more like him, would, no doubt, have succeeded, 
but there were not, and so his efforts ended in a — 
church. Cannot we renew that effort with better suc- 
cess, helping to realize all that prophets and sages have 
dreamt of? 

I am, my dear friends, in life and in death, 

Always devotedly yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 157 

Hurricane, July 11, 1899. 
My dear Friends : I am most glad to learn tliat Dr. 

E has been with you, and that he has expressed 

views similar to mine in regard to university education. 
I am also pleased to learn that you think of taking the 
work into your own hands, and that you are going to 
attack Martineau's book on Ethical Theory. You should 

have Mr. F read to you his epitome of Darwin's 

"Descent of Man." It is well worth hearing and dis- 
cussing. I have two other essays which I hope to be 
able to return soon. 

Mr. C and Dr. B are both here, and we 

are discussing plans for the future. We are to have 
the Fifth Street house next winter, and a certain sum 
of money set aside for our purposes. What now 
remains is to arrange a plan of work, and to find men 
to carry it out. Both these things I shall try to do in 
the near future. Thus things look promising for next 
winter. I hope to get a course of lectures on Evolu- 
tion, one on Universal History, one on the System of 
the Sciences, one on Economics, one on Art, one on 
Comparative Religion, and so on. We must, of course, 
begin small and grow in a natural way. There must 
be no forcing. 

I am beginning to hope that we may have, besides 
lectures and classes, social gatherings for conversation 
and mutual help. For want of proper intercourse we 
remain strangers to each other, finding no outlet for our 
best feelings, and no joy in our lives. We must try to 
bring about such intercourse. We ought to be a living 
Providence to each other. 



158 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

I am asked what I mean by saying that " we are 
eternal," and that " we are here forever." I mean just 
what I say. I mean that our career does not end with 
the death of the body. It is only a false philosophy 
that could ever make us believe that it did. My aim 
has been to lead the class up to a true philosophy, which 
should make it evident that death is but an incident in 
an eternal career. Until we see that clearly, we cannot 
invest life with its true dignity or importance. What 
is a life of seventy, or even a hundred, years compared 
with eternal life? What a pitiful life this is for the 
mass of mankind if it all ends in the grave ! I realize 
perfectly that it requires much thought to convince us 
that we are eternal. I cannot make it evident to you 
in a few words ; but I hope, in course of time, to make 
it as clear to you as noonday that 

Dust thou art, to dust returnest, 
Was not spoken of the soul. 

Until we learn our true nature, and live our lives in 
accordance with it, we need not hope for any improve- 
ment of social and economic conditions. It is because 
we do not know ourselves that we live false and unsat- 
isfactory lives. When we do know ourselves and our 
own possibilities, we shall rise to heights that we have 
now no notion of. 

If I can find the proper teachers, I shall try to arrange 
classes to prepare for college ; but I am not sure that I 
shall succeed in that. I must not attempt too much at 
once. I shall be happy when members of the class are 
able to give instruction. Indeed, I think some of them 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 159 

could do so now. For example, if Mr. K were 

willing to undertake it, I am sure lie could successfully 
carry on a class in Latin. You know, I am sure, that 
the more you do for yourselves, the better it will be. My 
greatest satisfaction it will be when I am no longer of 
any use to you. 

One thing you must all try to do, and that is, to get 
complete command of the English language. You must 
read a great deal ; you must listen to good speakers ; you 
must write essays and letters and articles; you must 
practice declamation and reading aloud. Some of you 
write and pronounce well ; but many of you do not. 
And that is not to be wondered at, seeing that the lan- 
guage is not native to you, and that you have not the 
best opportunities of hearing it spoken. 

In a letter received some time ago I was asked where 
the knowledge could be obtained that would enable one 
to believe one i:hing or another. I did not answer the 
question because it was too momentous. The fact is, 
you cannot find such knowledge anywhere. You must 
think it out for yourselves under proper guidance. You 
must realize that we are, at this moment, passing through 
a crisis, when not only the old faiths, but the old philos- 
ophies and the old life-ideals are passing away, and giv- 
ing place to new. I have been trying to lead you up to 
that newer view, and shall try still more earnestly in the 
future. When you reach it, the world will be trans- 
formed for you. The meanness and littleness of the 
present aspect of life and of the world will vanish from 
you, and an aspect so glorious will rise before you that 
you will almost shout for joy, as I am often inclined to 



160 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

do. I wish I could make you feel that, with proper 
earnestness, you might become the heralds and examples 
of a new civilization, blessing all mankind to all eternity. 

Good-bye. I am, 

Most affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 

Hurricane, July 18, 1899. 

My dear Friends : To-day I have received letters from 
three members of the class, and I cannot tell you how 
happy they have made me. I have read them one by 
one and slowly so as to enjoy them fully. To-night I 
seem to be with you. 

Dr. B has been here and we have had several good 

talks. Things look promising for the winter, if only my 
health would improve, as I trust it will. I want to be 

strong again for your sake. Professor A also has 

been here, and shown great interest in our class. He is 
very anxious that we should start a "Culture Institute " 
on the East Side on a large scale, and thinks it could be 
done. I am in favor of beginning small and growing 
gradually, and I am quite sure we can do that. Never- 
theless, I am busy working out a scheme for a Culture 
Institute, and that will be useful to us, I hope, as an 
ideal, in any case. I hope we can get a lecture or two 

from Professor A next winter, and it is well to have 

his countenance and help. 

Now that we are virtually sure of the Fifth Street 
house, I can begin to arrange for classes and teachers. 
I sincerely hope we shall be able to have a rounded 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 161 

culture-course, calculated to make you all feel at home 
in the world. 

It gives me great pleasure to know that you are read- 
ing your own essays. I returned two last week, and 
hope to be able to return two more this week. I am 
greatly pleased with them all. I have still several let- 
ters to answer, and that shall be done as soon as I am 
able to do so. I am longing to be back with you, and 
glad that every day brings that event nearer. 

I am rejoiced to see that you remain earnest, and 
do not turn to small or frivolous things. In a letter 

received a few days ago. Professor G says : " I spent 

a most charming evening with your class. They are 
indeed deeply earnest young people, and it is a pleasure 
to work with them." I am glad to hear such things of 
you, and I trust that they will always be true. I hope 
that, in course of time, you will form yourselves into a 
society, whose name shall everywhere mean all that is 
best and truest and noblest. I hope you will be known 
for wisdom, for kindliness, and for helpfulness. Many 
of you, I know, cherish a lofty ideal, and I trust I shall 
live to see it realized. In this, most blest of lands, we 
have complete liberty, and there is no high goal which 
we may not reach, if we are determined to do so. In my 
opinion, the ideal of American democracy is the loftiest 
religion that has ever appeared on this earth. 

I wish I could have given you a more satisfactory 
answer than I did last week to the question regarding 
human immortality. But it was impossible to give an 
adequate answer off-hand. The clear insight into im- 
mortality rests upon a view of existence, which is by no 



162 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

means common, and which cannot be communicated in 
a letter. Among the things I hope to do next winter is 
to gather you into a little circle once or twice a month, 
and, in quiet, friendly conversation, to show you the deep 
things of existence — among them the fact that we are 
eternal beings, with an eternal and ever-widening task 
before us. If I succeed in this, you will suddenly find 
life become so earnest and sublime that you will seem to 
be listening to the thunders of Sinai — only they will 
come from within and not from without. I believe it is 
impossible to reach a better social and moral condition, 
until we have rationally adopted an entirely new view 
of life and its meaning — a new philosoph}^, truer and 
deeper than any that has gone before. This philosophy 
will afford us an outlook so inspiring that our little tem- 
poral difficulties will seem as nothing to us, and we shall 
advance on our eternal journey with a joy and a cour- 
age of which few people have at present any conception. 
And I think you are all ready for such a philosophy ; in 
fact, I know that some of you are hungering and thirst- 
ing for it. 

I was extremely glad to get Mr. M 's paper on the 

"Warfare of Science with Theology." I wish it were 
possible for the whole of you to read the book from 
beginning to end. You would find it most instructive 
and enlightening. Perhaps you will be tempted to read 

it after you have heard Mr. M 's paper. I think you 

will find Mr. F 's paper on Darwin's "Descent of 

Man" also very illuminating. 

I am afraid that you will think that the Bible of the 
religion of the future is going to be a pretty large book, 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 163 

and you are right. It will include all science, and all 
art, of every sort. Its votaries will live in an atmosphere 
of truth and of universal interests, in which it will be 
impossible for them to know weariness or satiety. It 
is, indeed, nothing but our own blindness and stupidity 
that prevents us from making a heaven of this world. If 
we would only discover the truth, and live according to 
it, we should find ourselves in paradise, here and now. 

I am very thankful to Mr. C for undertaking the 

presidency of the class, and I am sure he will do himself 
credit in the place. His clear utterance makes him espe- 
cially fit for it. 

I am, always most affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. - 

Hurricane, July 25, 1899. 
My dear Friends : All that I hear from and about you 
delights me, and I have the best hopes for the future. 
I am asked about the relation of women's ability to 
men's. The question is a complicated one, and I am 
not willing to dogmatize about it. That, on the aver- 
age, women are physically smaller and weaker than 
men is obvious enough. Their heads and their brains 
are smaller. They are, and must be, different in many 
respects, for they have different functions. But it by 
no means follows that they are inferior. Intelligence 
does not depend upon size of brain. Byron had a very 
small brain and so had many able men. As in most 
things, quality counts for more than quantity. You 
might, in this connection, read my two articles in the 



164 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

Forum^ "The Ideal Training of the American Boy" 
(July, 1894), and "The Ideal Training of the American 
Girl " (June, 1898). There is a very noble passage on the 
relations of men and women in Tennyson's " Princess " 
near the end. It begins '^ Blame not thyself too much." 
You might read it in the class next Saturday. I am sure 
you will agree with it, and learn it by heart. I hope you 
are all free from the leveling mania which possesses so 
many people, and that you do not wish to see women 
become like men. All excellence is not one excellence. 
The perfect woman must always be different from the 
perfect man. The chief delight of existence is its va- 
riety. Uniformity is poor, monotonous, and tedious. 

I do not believe that there is any more danger to 
women than to men from " over-education." Of course, 
there is considerable danger in both cases. Intellectual 
labor is an enormous drain upon the system always. 
Persons of very great intellectual power very often 
have no children at all, or children of very mediocre 
ability, e.g.^ Plato, Plotinus, Locke, Descartes, Leibniz, 
Spinoza, Hobbes, Bacon, Shakespeare, Milton, Hume, 
Kant, Humboldt, Goethe, Washington, etc. It is per- 
haps well that such persons should not marry. I think 
it is probably true that women, as well as men, if greatly 
devoted to intellectual pursuits, would not be the best 
of parents. But there is the greatest difference between 
sustained intellectual labor and high culture. The 
latter, I am sure, never hurt any one, whether man or 
woman. I know very many women, graduates of col- 
leges, who are admirable wives and mothers. I am not 
sure that what I have said will be satisfactory to you ; 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 165 

but it is the best I can do. I would add that I don't 
think marriage universally obligatory. 

I was very glad to have Dr. B- — - here, and I am 
pleased to know that he liked my place. I sincerely 

hope he will come again, later on. Mr. C seems 

to be very happy here. The life in the woods is new 
to him, and I think he enjoys it. He is learning Latin, 
reading Hume, felling trees and doing other work. He 
is looking strong and well, I wish I were rich enough 
to bring you all up here ; it would do you good. 

I am looking forward to next winter's work with 
much hope. It is such a comfort to me to think that 
you have kept up the class during the summer. Many 
of the essays and abstracts that have been sent to me 
are most creditable. I have several now before me, and 
hope to return them soon. I am sorry to say I have 
not a copy of Martineau's book here, but I have received 

Mr. J 's essay on the first chapter. I will try to 

return that this week, with some remarks, which may 
be useful to you. 

You know I have never wished to dictate to you, or 
to impose my views upon you. I could propose many 
things for next winter ; but I should prefer to have you 
make out a plan for yourselves, and then I will see how 
far I can help you to carry it out. Cannot you discuss 
this matter, and let me know the result ? 

You will be glad, I think, to know that I am feeling 
better now than I have done for a long time, and, though 
I am not able to do much work, I have good hopes of 
improving as time .goes on. If the doctor and my 
health would allow me, I should like to live in the 



166 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

midst of you next winter. I think I could be useful to 
you, and you could be useful to me. I am fain to 
believe that we might together start a movement in 
favor of culture, that would have great results. I 
believe that the only way to make the future better than 
the past is through education, and the gradual moraliza- 
tion of all classes, rich and poor. I have no faith that, 
as long as men and women remain as they are, any 
new, merely external arrangement of society can greatly 
benefit us. When men and women are better, then 
society will be better. 

I do hope that those of you whose letters I have not 
answered will be patient with me. Do not think that 
my silence means neglect or thoughtlessness. It merely 
means want of strength. 

Good-bye. I am. 

Yours most affectionately, 

Thomas Davidson. 



Hurricane, August 2, 1899. 
My dear Friends : I am asked to give my opinion on 
the question, how far a man is influenced by environ- 
ment. That is a very large question, and I can give 
only a summary answer. It depends a good deal upon 
the man. One man is the mere football of circumstances, 
another treats them as so many footballs. Near the be- 
ginning of my recent book on Rousseau, I have drawn 
a distinction between the ''willers" who bully circum- 
stances, and the " dalliers " who are bullied by them. 
Our circumstances constitute an environment, or world, 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 167 

which is the field of our activity. But, as I have often 
tried to show you, my world is not one thing and myself 
another. I and my world are one. What I call my 
environment is simply the sum of my own determi- 
nations, and, therefore, fundamentally within my own 
power. The more a man is master of his determinations, 
that is, the more self-determined he is, the more of a 
man he is. The more his determinations (circumstances) 
are beyond his control, the more of a weakling he is. 
You should read, in this connection, Enid's song in 
Tennyson's "Idylls of the King." It begins, "Turn, 
Fortune, turn thy wheel, and lower the proud." 

"Should philosophers have any dealings with poli- 
tics? " All great philosophers have looked upon politics 
as a sphere of truth, and, therefore, open to them. Many 
great philosophers have taken an active part in politics 
with good results. I should even say that a man who 
stands aloof from politics cannot be a true philosopher. 
The end of all philosophy is conduct, and the broadest 
field of conduct is the political. Many people have the 
curious and completely false notion that the philosopher 
is an utterly unpractical being, aimlessly dreaming about 
abstractions having no relation to the things of earth. 
The true philosopher is simply the man who thinks 
profoundly and correctly on all subjects. 

You ask me about the average man and woman. I 
am sorry to say that I have never met these personages, 
and, therefore, know nothing about them or their capa- 
bilities. All my acquaintances are distinct personali- 
ties, each different, and with different capabilities, from 
all the rest. Each is for me a great world which I am 



168 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

anxious to explore, and before which I stand in rever- 
ence. Is any one of you an average man or woman? 
If so, how do you know? Does one know all the rest 
so thoroughly as to be able to strike an average, and 
say, '^I correspond to that average"? Just think 
what that would imply! 

I have not heard anything of our brother F— — for 
some time ; but I left word with the doctor to send 
him up to me as soon as he was fit to be removed from 
the hospital. I must again inquire about him. 

Miss R is here and seems very happy, and I may 

say the same of Mr. C . They are both great favor- 
ites and I am delighted to have them. I am only sorry 
that my health does not permit me to do as much for 
them as I should wish. 

What you tell me about Mr. K 's talk and Mr. 

M 's essay is most encouraging. My heart warms 

to you when I think that you are occupying yourselves 
with such earnest things, and I long to be with you. 
I am trying to make plans for next winter, and shall 
be most glad to hear what you would like to have done, 
and, moreover, what you would like to do. For, after 
all, our work must result in our doing. We must not 
only know the truth: we must also live it. And w^e 
can live it only by establishing noble and wise social 
relations. We must be individually great and good. 
Only thus can we be blessings to all around us, as we 
ought to be. Let us devote ourselves, body and soul, 
to welldoing ; and, though we may not immediately see 
the fruit of our labors, the fruit is sure to ripen in the 
days to come. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 169 

I suppose I shall return to New York, for medical 
treatment, in the early part of September. If the treat- 
ment is successful, I hope to be again a strong man, and 
to do much work. I shall, I hope, return here for a 
short time, to pack my books before coming down for 
the winter. 

We are having beautiful days and nights now. Our 
walks in the woods and our quiet conversations in lovely 
spots, affording views of the mountains and valleys, 
are most inspiring. I hope to see you all here some 

day. I expect Mr. F— — and Mr. C in the next 

few days. 

And now, my dear friends, good night ! It is nearly 
midnight and I must go to rest. The light in Mr. 

C 's tent is out, and he is probably asleep. You see 

he is celebrating the " feast of tabernacles " all the time. 
He is in the "wilderness," but I think the "promised 
land " is before him. He has done a great deal of solid 
work here, and Miss R is following his example. 

I am, affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 

Hurricane, August 16, 1899. 
My dear Friends : I am greatly pleased to know 
that you are discussing Martineau's "Types of Ethical 
Theory," and not altogether disappointed that you are 
drawn thereby into purely philosophical or " metaphys- 
ical" questions. Indeed, we cannot discuss ethics to 
any good purpose without so doing. We must clearly 
understand what a being is, before we can say what the 



170 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

rules for his conduct shall be. Moreover, you cannot 
direct a man who does not know where he is going, or 
who does not want to go anywhere. If we are mere 
animals, with only animal wants and aspirations, we 
shall have one rule of conduct; if we are beings with 
ideal ends and eternal purposes, we shall have quite 
another. Moreover, inasmuch as all ethical conduct 
aims at good and a good life, we must clearly under- 
stand what good means. Is there any good for a stone 
or a shadow? If not, why not? Is there any good 
for a nation other than the good of the individuals 
composing it ? 

I should strongly advise you to discuss these things 
carefully, especially the meaning and the conditions of 
the good. Then ask yourselves : Who is the good 
man? Who is the good citizen? and you will, I am 
sure, find the answers interesting. You should then 
discuss the meaning of " ought," and why we feel it to 
be authoritative. Of course, there can be no ethics 
except for a being that has freedom of choice : there is 
no ethical possibility for a thunderbolt or an earthquake. 
It will be well for you to consider the nature of freedom. 

If, in discussing the ethical theories of different phi- 
losophers, you become acquainted with their systems as 
wholes, that will be a great gain. You cannot have too 
many ways of looking at the world. Indeed, culture 
consists largely in being able to see it from many points 
of view. And each philosophy is a point of view. 

I am much pleased to find that the class is increasing 
in numbers, and I sincerely trust that the new members 
will be as good as the old, and will be pervaded by the 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 171 

same seriousness. I hope, also, that you will form a 
society bound together by love and respect. I hear 
good accounts of you from all sides, and I hope I shall 
always do so. 

I recognize that my last letter gave but sketchy 
answers to the questions taken up in it ; but space did 
not permit me to do better. Besides, I am not, in the 
least, anxious to impose my opinions upon you. I wish 
to give, here and there, a hint, and allow you to follow 
it up yourselves. If you come to my conclusions I shall 
be pleased; if you don't, I shall be pleased also. 

I should be very sorry to have you accept the doctrine 
of immortality as a dogma; and yet I should be very 
glad if you could see that it is, and must be, true — 
that only an eternal being can think and will. In any 
case, it can do you nothing but good to exercise your 
intelligence in dealing with the question, which is a 
very important one, both theoretically and morally. 
Some persons, who have not done much accurate think- 
ing, tell us that it is selfish to desire personal immor- 
tality, that we should be content with the immortality 
of humanity ; and sacrifice our personal longings and 
aspirations to it. But surely, it cannot be selfish to 
desire to be, for ever and ever, a beneficent being, to 
be for one's fellows all that it is possible to be. If it is 
noble to wish to serve our kind for fifty years, it surely 
cannot be ignoble to desire to serve it for five hundred, 
or five thousand, years. And if we do not live to serve 
our kind, is it not ignoble to live for one hour? Again, 
"humanity" is a mere abstraction, for which no one 
can live or die. For it is merely a short term for all 



172 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

men and women, past, present, and future. But it is 
obvious that we cannot live for past men and women. 
*' To live for humanity " must, therefore, mean to live 
so that the men and women of the present and future 
shall be better for our living. And, if these men and 
women are all ephemeral beings, it must mean that each 
brief life is to be a sacrifice for other brief lives like 
itself, and that no one ever gathers the fruit of all this 
sacrifice. I cannot imagine anything more foolish and 
disheartening, unless it be the notion that, after a man 
has toiled to build up a character rich in knowledge, 
love, and beneficent action, he is suddenly blown out, 
like a candle, and his power to bless brought to naught. 
If this be true, then life is a brutal mockery, which it 
would be well to end at once. 

But I see clearly that it is not true, and I should be 
glad, for your sake, if you could see it too. I am well 
aware that the belief in immortality, in the past, has 
been so closely connected with supernaturalism that one 
is almost ashamed to hold a doctrine which has kept such 
bad company. But we ought to get over this, and treat 
the doctrine on its own merits. Will you do this? 

There are four members of the class here now, and, 
as far as I can see, they are all well and happy. Mr. 

C lectured here to-day in a manner that made me 

very glad. I must not say more, though there is more 
to say, about this. It would be an insult to praise him. 

Good night, dear friends. 

I am, affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 173 

Hurricane, May 17, 1900. 

My dear Friends: I am not going to tell you how 
hard it was to leave you. You know how glad I am to 
be with you, and that must be the measure of sorrow at 
parting. You know, too, that our parting is a mere 
bodily affair. We are not parted in spirit. And in 
this instance bodily parting is good. For the next few 
months you will manage your own affairs and conduct 
your own discussions and practical work. Nothing 
could be better for you; and nothing could give me 
more pleasure than to see you succeed. I am sure that 
whenever you come together there will be order, dignity, 
and earnestness. The poodle and the monkey will not 
be found among you. Your sole aims will be truth 
and righteousness. 

Of my journey as far as Westport I know very little. 
After that it was delightful. We started in an open 
conveyance at four o'clock, in the pale dawn, and drove 
by clear brooks, tenderly leafing trees, green meadows, 
and solemn mountains for just four hours. The air 
was balmy but bracing, and, as we kept ascending, there 
gradually grew upon us a sense of freshness and health 
and expansion that belongs only to the mountains. 
The sun came out in due time, and ere we reached 
home we were in paradise. The far, snow-capped moun- 
tains stood out blue against the horizon, while the near 
slopes were green and brown of every shade. Over all 
SAvept the cloud shadows in joy. Since we arrived it 
has been every kind of weather. It has thundered and 
lightened, and poured in torrents. Fog and sunshine 
have been playing at hide and seek all day. And now, at 



174 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

eight ill the evening, the heavy mists lie over the moun- 
tains, the woods are dripping, and the streams roaring. 
In spite of all this panorama, I have arranged my library 
and unpacked my traveling books, and now I am sitting 
at my desk in the wilderness writing to my blessed boys 
and girls. I hope this may reach you on Saturday. 

You are doubtless aware that, in taking possession of 
our new quarters, a new phase in our existence has 
begun. Thus far we have mainly sought self-culture ; 
in the future we must go out and impart the bless- 
ings of culture to others. We have been preparing an 
instrument, now we must use that instrument. Nor 
must we forget that it is in imparting culture to others 
that the highest culture comes to ourselves. We never 
really live our own lives till we live with the lives of 
others. You must now daily ask yourselves of what 
use you can be to those about you in the way of instruc- 
tion, sympathy, example, encouragement. If you reflect 
you will find that there are a thousand ways in which 
you can be of service to old and young, not only in 
your individual capacity, but, also, as a class, and as 
forming clubs within the class. I cherish the greatest 
hopes that from our new home will radiate such benefi- 
cent influences that its name shall be a synonym for 
all good works, and that to belong to it shall be consid- 
ered the greatest of honors. 

There is another point in connection with our new 
departure that requires some consideration. Thus far 
the class has drawn its members from those desiring 
instruction. It has held out no other inducement. 
Now it has other things to offer, and so you may expect 



THE UNDERLYING SPIKIT 175 

to find persons of a different sort from yourselves suing 
for admission, — persons seeking a place to lounge or 
to engage in idle conversation. It will be well to pro- 
vide against the admission of such. It would perhaps 
be advisable, after a complete list of the present mem- 
bers has been made out, to admit no new members, 
except on the recommendation of three actual members, 
and after the approval of the house committee, or of a 
special committee on membership. This, of course, does 
not mean that anybody should be excluded from the 
classes and meetings, — far from it, — but merely that 
unknown persons should have no voice in the manage- 
ment of the club, and no right to use the club rooms for 
lounging or talking frivolity. 

I am well aware that among the members of the club 
there are not a few who cherish very radical ideas on 
social and moral reform. This is certainly as it should 
be, provided due care is taken that the ideas are at once 
practicable and just. You know that I am neither an 
anarchist nor a socialist ; but you perhaps do not know 
that I think there are both a spirit and a power in our 
class that give promise of accomplishing what socialism 
and anarchism have attempted in vain, — the spirit that 
recognizes humanity as the true self of each individual, 
and the power to give effect to that recognition. If 
society is ref ormable, why should not the saving impulse 
proceed from our little band as readily as from elsewhere? 
Why should we enroll ourselves under the banners of 
aliens and call ourselves by their names, thus sacrificing 
our own freedom of thought? Let us stand for our- 
selves, and for the most generous principles we can attain. 



176 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

Let us inscribe " Social Truth and Righteousness " on 
our banners, and then follow them wherever they may- 
lead. And they certainly will not lead to class hatred, 
to envy of the rich, or to contempt for the poor. Nor 
will they lead to loud-mouthed declamation about "nat- 
ural rights," or to schemes for the use of dynamite. 
The bearers of them will find their programme in the 
opening verses of the forty-second chapter of Isaiah: 

Behold my servant whom I uphold, 
My chosen in whom my soul delights ; 
I have put my spirit upon him, 
He will set forth the law to the nations. 

He will not cry aloud, nor roar as a lion, 
Nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. 
A cracked reed he will not break. 
And a dimly burning wick he will not quench. 

Faithfully will he set forth the law ; 

He will not burn dimly, nor be crushed in spirit, 

Till he have set the law in the earth, 

And for his instruction the far countries wait. 

I sometimes think that this ideal of the grand old 
prophet will be realized through you, that in you will 
find expression the divine spirit, enabling you to set 
forth the law of righteousness to the nations. Keep 
these words continually before you, and do your best 
to make them true. Even those of you who have cast 
away the coarse outer husks, that so long have hidden 
the kernel of the prophet's message, can certainly find 
it easy to accept this teaching. And this is all that 
prophecy means ; the rest is mere clothes, which must 
be changed to suit times and seasons. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 177, 

And now, my dear friends, good night. May you grow 
daily in knowledge, in sympathy, and in helpfulness. 

Yours with a love that will not tire, 

Thomas Davidson. 

Hurricane, May 23, 1900. 

My dear Friends: It is just a week since I parted 
with some of you at the station, and it seems 'a year. 
How many years will it be before I see you again, at 
this rate ? 

Your secretary's good letter came on Monday, and 
brought me good news of you. Your discussion of 
" Eating, Drinking, and Sleeping " seems to have been 
profitable. At any rate it must have drawn your atten- 
tion to a very important matter. I trust that you will 
all put the truth you learned into practice. " Simplic- 
ity and regularity " should be your motto in the matter 
of eating. Each of you should have, at least, eight 
hours' unbroken sleep every night. I fear some of you 
are in the habit of sitting up too late. You seem to 
have said nothing about drinking, — a fact which is 
both characteristic and encouraging. I hope at some 
future time to arrange a series of lectures on hygiene 
for you. 

Your discussion with regard to a name for our class 
interests me greatly. That we must now have a name 
seems clear, and the question what it shall be has exer- 
cised me a good deal. We must, of course, avoid all 
pedantic names, and names that would commit us to 
anything but truth and righteousness. You know that 



178 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

my ambition has been, and is, to see our little enterprise 
develop into a Breadwinners' College. I think I said 
so in my report to the Educational Alliance last winter. 
The chairman of the house committee, and, indeed, the 
committee generally, have suggested that we adopt that 
name at once, and I am not sure but that is the best 
we can do. Before doing so, however, you must see 
that there be no objection on the part of the trustees 
of the Alliance. I understand that steps have been 
taken to insure their concurrence. The name, at our 
present stage, may seem a little arrogant, but whether 
or not it shall really be so depends upon you. If you 
adopt it you must realize that you take a solemn pledge 
to make it mean what it says. If you are reluctant to 
do that, then choose another name. Furthermore, if 
you resolve to be a college in all seriousness, then we 
must try to conduct the whole of the higher education 
undertaken by the Alliance. I think the trustees would 
allow us to do this, if not immediately, in course of 
time. I am chairman of the committee on literature and 
science, and I should be glad to work in that direction, 
if you feel equal to the task. That there is sufficient 
ability among you to carry it on successfully is very 
certain. Everything depends on your will and enthu- 
siasm. Now, consider all this carefully, and then make 
up your minds. Here is a glorious field for you ! 

I am glad you are to have a lecture from Dr. H . 

Give him my kindest regards when he comes. Make 
him tell you a great deal about the character of the 
Boers, and about the manner in which they treat people 
of a faith different from their own. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 179 

You cannot be too grateful to Mr. F for being will- 
ing to give up a third evening every week to the interests 
of the class. If you become a college he will make an 
excellent head of the aesthetic department. I could name 
several other heads of departments, and so can you. 

While waiting for your list of books (to be bought), 
let me suggest two : (1) "Open Sesame" (Ginn & Com- 
pany), for those who are going to undertake to teach 
classes of young boys and girls ; (2) Rossetti's " Dante 
and his Circle." This contains an almost faultless trans- 
lation of Dante's "Vita Nuova," a book which every 
one of you ought to read. It is the purest love story 
that ever was written. 

Let us be in no hurry to use up all our book fund. 
Let us leave something to get the books we may need 
for actual use from time to time. For the present let 
us buy standard books. Of the books of the day we 
shall get many presents, I am sure. 

Our map of the ancient world can now be hung up 

on the wall of the room where Mr. C 's history class 

is held. There is an historical atlas by Freeman w^hich 
you ought to possess. You might also get Kurtz's 
" Geschichtstabellen." 

As many of you as can conveniently join the Sunday 
morning philosophical class should do so. Its work for 
the summer is Plato, and every one of you ought to know 
about him. He is one of the masters of the world's 
thought, and though he was vastly mistaken in many 
important things he cannot be neglected. 

To my great sorrow, I find I have lost, or mislaid, the 
list of the names and addresses of the class. Another 



180 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

should be made out as soon as possible. I suppose the 
treasurer is attending to that for his own sake. I shall 
be glad to have a copy of the new list. 

I need not tell you how glad I am that you are pro- 
gressing so rapidly, and that you are managing your 
own affairs so successfully. Now is the time for you 
to form yourselves into little knots for the pursuit of 
different kinds of good work. You would do well to 
form relations with other clubs that are doing good 
work, such as the Hebrew Benevolent Association, which 
I hear highly spoken of. Indeed, the more relations you 
can enter into, the more useful you will be. 

But, with all your doing, do your best to avoid over- 
work and overstrain. Live rational lives, as far as it 
is possible for you to do so. Avoid late hours and all 
sorts of excitement. Few of you, I am sure, care any- 
thing about frivolous amusements, and in that you have 
a great advantage over many people who are better 
situated than you are. 

And now, dear friends, good night. 

I am always affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 

Hurricane, May 30, 1900. 
My dear Friends: I am much interested to hear 
of your discussion in regard to the name of our new 
enterprise, for new it is. We cannot any longer call 
ourselves a Class in History and Sociology. We have 
outgrown that name, and must have a new one. The 
question is. What shall it be? 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 181 

Some time ago I expressed the hope that we might 
develop into a Breadwinners' College. Nevertheless, 
I was somewhat surprised when the house committee 
wrote to me saying that they thought we ought to 
assume that name at once ; and I advised caution and 
reflection. I said that, unless the class felt that they 
could in a short time make the name a reality, they 
had better not assume it. Since then, I have thought 
a good deal about the matter, and have received an 
account of your discussion from several of you. The 
more I think of it the more it seems advisable to adopt 
the name, and the less weighty appear the objections 
urged against it. There seems to be no objection to it 
on the part of the Alliance. 

That a Breadwinners' College is greatly needed on 
the East Side no one, I suppose, doubts. The question 
is. Is there ability and enthusiasm enough among you 
to carry one on ? My own belief is that there is ; but 
you know best. There is certainly a glorious oppor- 
tunity offered you to do the most beneficent work for 
your fellow-men, — work whose influence would be far- 
reaching and eternal. Many of you, I know, are eager 
for such work and are asking where it can be found. 
Here it is, almost thrust in your faces. Of all philan- 
thropic work, education is the noblest and most effective. 
It is that which best diffuses truth and righteousness, 
the lack of which is the cause of nearly all human ills. 
But it is no light work, and I can well understand your 
desiring to think twice before undertaking it. The 
word "college" seems to frighten some of you, and 
make you begin to think of examinations and degrees, 



182 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

and all the other formalities of our present institutions. 
There is no reason for such dread. You will never 
be expected to enter the lists against colleges which 
do this. It is just because our present colleges are 
so unsatisfactory, so unsuited to the great body of 
American people, that colleges of a new sort. Bread- 
winners' Colleges, are necessary. We want to educate 
the breadwinners better than our present college men 
are educated. We want to make them better men and 
women in all the relations of life, — pure, high-minded, 
public-spirited, generous, cultured. The day has come 
when the toiling millions who have so long been denied 
their share in the treasures of art, science, culture, and 
freedom, won by the men and women of past ages, 
must come to their inheritance ; and they can do so only 
through education. We are engaged in a new move- 
ment, one of the most momentous that the world has ever 
known, — the spiritual elevation of the vast majority 
of mankind. A century ago, it was the bourgeois class 
that fought for, and won, its freedom. To-day, it is the 
working class that is fighting for the same thing, — the 
breadwinners. It is they who are demanding culture 
and freedom, and colleges where these may be learned. 
Are you going to take a leading part in this glorious 
movement, or are you not ? That is the question. Are 
you going to be heroes and heroines in the cause of the 
last great emancipation, or are you going to fold your 
hands and leave yourselves and your fellows in bondage ? 
If you feel brave enough to embrace the former alter- 
native, then form yourselves into a Breadwinners' Col- 
lege, and vow to yourselves, in the silence of your own 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 183 

breasts, that you will do your share in banishing igno- 
rance, sin, poverty, and misery from the face of the 
earth. The freeing movement must begin somewhere. 
Why not with you? If you found a Breadwinners' 
College now, and make it a success, you may live to see 
a copy of it in every city ward and in every country 
village. Think of it ! Think how full of interest and 
joy your lives would be if you felt that you had taken 
the first great step in the emancipation of the millions 
of toilers that now groan in ignorance ! A little knot 
of earnest Jews has turned the world upside down before 
now. Why may not the same thing — nay, a far better 
thing — happen in your day, and among you ? Have 
you forgotten the old promise made to Abraham, — 
"In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the 
earth be blessed " ? You can bring the promise to fulfill- 
ment if you will. A little heroism, a little self-sacrifice, 
and the thing is done. 

The working classes of France are to-day founding 
"Popular Universities" by the hundred. Are you 
afraid to found one Breadwinners' College ? Take this 
into consideration. 

If you decide to adopt the name, we must, of course, 
begin on a small scale ; but if our institution meets a 
popular need, it will grow with incredible rapidity. 
Think well on this. 

I am pleased to know that the discussion on " Cleanli- 
ness and Exercise" was conducted with vigor. Why 
did Mr. fail to perform what he voluntarily under- 
took? Is he unwell? I am sure these discussions, 
by calling attention to many important questions in 



184 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

practical ethics, will do great good. Your conclusion 
in the present instance leaves nothing to be desired. I 
hope every one of you will live up to it. 

I wish you were all here in this glorious world. 
Never were the mountains more beautiful. I shall be 
glad to entertain any of you for a week, if you can find 
your way up here. I feel almost ashamed to be luxu- 
riating in this paradise, but I am laying up strength for 
work with you next winter. I hope to return to you 
in health and vigor. 

I am writing a history of the class and its ideals. 
I hope you will all live up to these ideals. 

I am always affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 

Hurricane, June 5, 1900. 

My dear Friends : I am glad to know that you are 
having serious discussions, and trust that they are car- 
ried on for the sake of truth, and not in a contentious 
way, for the sake of victory. 

The suggestion that we should call ourselves The 
Breadwinners' College came, as you know, immedi- 
ately from the house committee. It took me by sur- 
prise at first, but the more I thought of it, the more it 
seemed to me to present an ideal which you could be 
glad to realize, to offer an opportunity for the very 
noblest kind of work. But I had no thought of imposing 
it on you, or of committing you to anything that you 
did not feel equal to. It may be that my confidence in 
your earnestness led me astray. I do not know any 



THE UNDERLYmG SPIRIT 185 

legal objection to our calling ourselves a college. My 
reason for preferring " college " to " institute " was that 
tlie latter is too vague and might mean a polytechnic 
school, as the Stevens Institute is. I had hoped to add 
to our college, some day, such a school. Use your own 
best judgment, and come to your own decision. It is 
your affair. 

I am sorry to learn that a disputatious spirit, a tend- 
ency to wrangle over little parliamentary points, has 
begun to show itself among you. It would be truly 
sad if this were to continue, and I am fain to hope that 
such childish frivolity came from some outsiders who had 
been unwarily admitted and who had not acquired your 
earnest spirit. I pointed out to you, in a previous letter, 
the need of care in the matter of fresh admissions. You 
will now understand why I did so. I think it would be 
wise to allow none but members to take part in the dis- 
cussions. Otherwise you will be in danger of continual 
disturbance from people who have not reached your 
standpoint. I trust you will all aid your worthy chair- 
man in putting a stop to such unworthy exhibitions. 

Your treatment of the dress question seems to have run 
into somewhat strange channels. It is interesting to find 
any one citing Paine's unintelligent remark, and funny to 
think of Paine's accepting the fig-leaf story as historical. 
He had n't then reached the " age of reason." Carlyle's 
statements must always be received with caution. His 
extreme prejudice led him into extraordinary blunders. 
I am glad you decided that not every industry which 
affords employment is morally justified. I wish some 
one of you would make a list of immoral industries. 



186 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

The moral significance of dress you do not seem to 
have touched on. Did you ever ask yourselves: (1) 
What connection is there between dress and intelligence, 
and why do the lower animals not dress? (2) What 
connection is there between the use of dress and the 
use of tools ? (3) How far does dress express character? 
(4) How far is it hypocritical ? Consider these. 

And now I come to a question I have done my best 
to avoid, — the question of socialism. You know what 
my views are, and you know that I have never tried to 
impose them upon you. I wished to put off the whole 
question until such time as you should have gained 
sufficient knowledge and sufficient experience to answer 
it. I hope you will pardon me if I say that at present 
you have neither. After it arose in my mind in 1865 
it took me twenty-six years of study and experience in 
various countries to come to a definite conclusion regard- 
ing it, to realize its full meaning, to see its moral impli- 
cations and its relations to liberty. There is no reason, 
therefore, why you should feel hurt if I say tliat at 
present you are not ready to answer it. You will all 
be wiser twenty-six years hence than you are now, else 
it will be sad indeed. 

I did not wish you even to give much attention to 
socialism at present, and my reason was this. I knew 
that a certain number of you, on the basis of very slender 
knowledge and experience, had already drawn a conclu- 
sion, and placarded yourselves socialists. That certainly 
was no fit frame of mind for undertaking the study. I 
hoped that when, owing to our studies together, you 
should have seen reason to doubt the justice of your 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 187 

conclusion, and recovered your impartiality of judgment, 
we might take up the question together in connection 
with the masquerade scene in the second part of " Faust " 
where it is admirably treated. I shall be sorry if you 
cannot wait until next winter when we shall take that 
up. We may not be able to answer the question even 
then, but I think we shall be able to put it correctly, 
which is no small step forward. Meanwhile, I trust 
you will drop your socialist placards and try to obtain 
an unbiased frame of mind. In saying this, I am merely 
pleading for scientific coolness of judgment. I merely 
wish you to lay aside all passion and sentimentality, 
and let science do its perfect work. I see from several 
letters, which I have received within a week, that some 
of you have considerable difficulty in doing this. 

Your secretary makes you say, " We see reason enough 
why we should be socialists." I wonder whether the 
whole class would have been willing to subscribe to 
this. If Marxian socialism is meant, I know that some 
of you would have declined. Only if socialism is taken 
to mean enthusiasm of humanity, a fervent desire for, 
and endeavor after, the highest welfare of every human 
being, would all of you have subscribed, I am sure. In 
that sense I hope I am a socialist of the most ardent 
sort, but in no other. It is unfortunate that the term 
"socialism" has been degraded from its true signifi- 
cance, and made to mean an economic system in which 
the state shall own all the means of production and pri- 
vate capital be prohibited. Such socialism is a matter 
of kitchen and scullery, and I doubt seriously whether 
many of you profess it. Those who do have certainly 



188 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

accepted it on faith and not through reason. I do not, 
of course, presume to interfere with anybody's faith ; 
that is his own affair; but faith, which makes sects and 
sectarians, should not be confounded with science, which 
makes free and universal men and women. Those who 
placard themselves socialists are simply sinking down 
into a sect and abandoning the glorious universality of 
science. I have managed to live nearly sixty years 
without wearing a single placard, and all the best that 
is in me, including my interest in and love for you, is 
due to that fact. Placards narrow one's influence and 
paralyze one's hands. How many men do I know 
whose lives have been sterilized and travestied by the 
early adoption of some placard, philosophic or religious ! 
Once more your secretary makes you say : " We are 
sure that, so far as the end is concerned, you agree with 
us, so far as the means we differ ; we all have the same 
idea, and we are approaching it each (in) his own way." 
I am glad to believe that that is true, but it certainly 
is not so if what you are made to say immediately before 
is true, viz. : " We hope to utilize all the good you have 
taught us toward the attainment of such a form of gov- 
ernment where true worth and position will consist in 
honor and fitness, where every individual will be the 
concern of the state, and where the state will see to it 
that all things good, true, and beautiful are enjoyed by 
all to the full extent of their value. This to us is 
socialism." Now, if this is the end you are aiming at, 
it is certainly not the one I am aiming at. This is to 
me not socialism, but superstition, and the saddest form 
of it. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 189 

In tlie old, prescientific days men, through their imagi- 
nations, formed images of gods, and then bowed down 
before them, in fear and terror, cowering before their 
own products. We look down upon such people ; but 
how much better are we than they if, misusing our 
intelligence, we set up such abstract idols as the state, 
and then expect it to do everything for us ? The state 
is a pure, helpless, inactive abstraction ; you and I and 
our fellows are the only reality which can effect any- 
thing. Take us away, and what could the state do? 
The state is a mere abbreviation for a certain number 
of individuals acting together in a certain way for a 
certain purpose. It is the individuals that do every- 
thing, and it is to them that you must look if you wish 
anything done. What is true of "state" is true of 
" government," and all similar terms. When taken for 
realities, they become mere idols, and all reliance on 
them is practical idolatry and crass superstition. What 
you are trying to do (if you are correctly reported) is 
to set up new idols and look to them for help and 
paternal care ; what I am trying to do is to induce you 
so to develop your own powers that you shall be able to 
help and care for yourselves. I wish to see you free 
and independent, not bound and dependent. Then you 
yourselves " will see to it that all things good, beautiful, 
and true are enjoyed by all," without waiting for your 
abstract idol to do it for you. 

Your setting up the state as a hel]3ful idol shows, in 
the clearest possible way, how much preparation, even of 
a philosophic sort (for the error is a philosophic one), 
you need, before you can hope to deal successfully with 



190 EDUCATIOI^ OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

sucli questions as that of socialism. Goethe says, or 
rather makes Mephistopheles say, 

Am Ende hangen wir doch ab 
Yon Kreaturen die wir machten. 

That is true so long as we are in the power of Mephis- 
topheles. In one sense, all the evil of the world has 
come from our worshiping the " creatures which we 
have made," — gods, state, government, etc. The whole 
aim of modern philosophy is to clear away these crea- 
tures, idols, and phantoms that have so long deluded 
and enslaved us, and to show us that we ourselves are 
the true reality on which everj^thing depends. This 
was my main purpose in opening the class in philosophy. 

Your secretary further makes you say, " We even 
go so far as to adopt the theories of political economy, 
proposed, after many years of unceasing, untiring, true 
philanthropic labor, by Karl Marx." When I read these 
words I could not believe my own eyes ; and, frankly, 
I do not believe they are true. I cannot believe that 
the class which I have known for a year and a half 
would "adopt" theories from anybody, however untiring 
of philanthropic. I cannot imagine anything more alien 
to the spirit which I have tried to evoke than bowing 
before any man's authority, or " adopting " untried theo- 
ries on any account. I had hoped to see each of you 
work out his or her own theories, and not be a mere 
play actor of others' theories. So only are you free. 
Was I altogether wrong? 

Still further on you are made to say: "A Marx Cir- 
cle has been organized to meet (on) Sunday mornings 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 191 

from 9 to 11. We intend to study his work ; to test it 
with all our powers ; to seek the truth for its own sake 
and to act accordingly." I do not know what to make of 
this. First, it seems, you " adopt " Marx's theories, and 
then you proceed to " test them with all your power ; to 
seek the truth for its own sake." In other words, after 
having found and " adopted " the truth, you still go on 
to seek it ! What can this mean? Is it not just the 
old mediaeval position, Credo iit intelligam (I believe 
that I may understand)? "I do not seek to understand 
that I may believe," says St. Anselm, " but I believe that 
I may understand. For I believe, further, that unless 
I believe, I shall not understand." Have you gone back 
to faith and mediaevalism ? Your words mean at least 
that you have " adopted " Marx's theories on faith, since 
you now find it necessary to form a circle in order to 
"study" and "test" them. I do not for a moment 
believe that this is what the class means, and I should 
be glad to have an expression of its views on the 
mediaeval method. It would, indeed, be strange if " Das 
Kapital" were to be treated as a new revelation, or a new 
Torah, which had to be " adopted " on faith as authori- 
tative and then studied with a view to understanding. 
Must the Hebrew accept a new Torah? You must 
now see what good reason I had to put off the discus- 
sion of socialism until such time as you had ceased to 
"adopt" its theories on faith and had regained an 
unbiased attitude. 

I cannot see how any one can talk of the "true 
philanthropic labor" of Marx. That dogma must be 
one of those adopted on faith, which, according to 



192 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

Cardinal Manning, "must conquer history." Is that labor 
pliilanthropic which fosters class hatred; which seeks 
to make one class of the people believe that its suffer- 
ings are all due to the rapacity and cruelty of another ; 
which makes war upon the free institutions which it 
has taken thousands of years to build up ; which, instead 
of striving to raise the unfree to the level of the free, 
tries to drag down the free to the level of the unfree ; 
which would take away the conditions of private ini- 
tiative, which has been the chief agent in human prog- 
ress; which would put an end to the struggle which 
has developed all that is truly human, all that has any 
moral value, in us, and reduce us to the condition of 
children cared for by a paternal abstraction? One of 
the objections which the "Abend Blatt" has to me is, 
that I have tried to put an end to the spirit of hatred 
and vengeance, and reconcile class with class. Can the 
spirit which urges such objections be called philan- 
thropic ? Surely a socialism which fosters social hatred 
is a contradiction in terms. 

I am glad to hear that some of you are ready to start 
new classes and circles ; but, in duty to the Alliance, 
I must ask those persons before doing so to tell me (1) 
just what they propose to do ; (2) who are going to join 
them. I told Mr. C some time ago that I disap- 
proved of the class in logic as unnecessary. In addi- 
tion to the objection then given, there is this : that next 
winter, when we come to deal with Aristotle, we shall 
be able to take up logic in its proper connection, and 
so to see its real meanings and bearings. I must, there- 
fore, deprecate the opening of a logic class at present. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 193 

As to the Marx Circle, it would obviously be pure 
waste of time for persons who have already " adopted " 
Marx's theories. I therefore deprecate that as useless. 
Even if you had not "adopted" these theories, the 
time has not come for you to study Marx or modern 
socialism with any hope of a right result. Socialism, like 
everything else, must be seen in its historical relations. 
To consider it apart from these would be to condemn 
yourselves to prejudice and misunderstanding. The 
economic man is a mere abstraction, and cannot be 
studied to any purpose apart from the whole nature of 
man. If you are really interested in socialism, then 
study it genetically, and in connection with all human 
history. To aid in this, I recommend to the philosophy 
class, for summer study, the works of Plato, the first 
great socialist. Later on, we shall be able to study 
Marx from the standpoint of universal history. 

I read Marx's " Das Kapital " when it first came out 
in 1867 ; but I recognized that I was not then able to 
deal with it, not having sufficient knowledge. I read the 
enlarged edition sixteen years later, and then I was far 
beyond it. Has the whole ever appeared in English? 

And now, my dear friends, I hope you will not mis- 
understand all this. I have not the least intention of 
interfering with your liberty of thought, or imposing 
my views upon you. I am merely trying to protect you 
against having the views of others imposed upon you 
as matters of faith, and to induce you to conduct 
your studies in a truly scientific spirit and method, 
with patience and without passion. If you should 
look at social questions through the veil of your own 



194 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

sufferings, you would certainly see them all distorted. 
You must try to look at them dispassionately, and from 
many points of view, like men and women who are 
eager to discover the truth and to live by it. 

I think that your secretary has (unwittingly, I am 
quite sure) misrepresented a part of you at least, and 
perhaps the whole, attributing to you his own views. 
Here, as often, the wish has been father to the thought. 
I am sure that, as soon as he recognizes his mistake, he 
will acknowledge it, and make due apology. I trust 
that no attempt will be made to commit the class, now 
or ever, to any creed, social or other, or to impose any 
placard upon it that might make it less than human. 
I hope that the rooms of the Alliance, which at my 
request were intrusted to me, will not be used for 
propaganda of any sort. They were given to earnest 
students, not to apostles of sectarian creeds. There is 
always a desire on the part of fanatics to capture any 
promising movement for its own ends. Soon after I 
founded the society which afterward took the name 
of Fabian, — a name meant to show that it wished to 
delay, and devote itself to profound study, before begin- 
ning any apostolic work, — a number of socialists being 
unwarily admitted into it turned it aside from its noble 
purpose, and committed it to a creed " adopted " on 
faith. I then, of course, left it. I hope no such mis- 
fortune will happen to our present work. I hope you 
will go on developing yourselves into great individuals 
and personalities, ready for anything, prepared to do 
your highest duty, without waiting indefinitely for a 
great social revolution. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 195 

Please to send me a list of the books you wish to 
buy for immediate use. I have quite a number which 
I wish to send you. 

I am much delighted to hear of Mr. L 's present. 

You will not omit to thank him for it. I am sorry he 
has to leave without visiting me as he hoped to do. 
He sails to-day for France. 

And now good-bye. Let nothing disturb the delightful 
relation that exists between us. Let us remain brothers 
and sisters, devoted to simple truth and righteousness. 

I am ever yours affectionately, 

Thomas Davidson. 

Hurricane, June 13, 1900. 

My dear Friends : Your last week's discussion upon 
" Worry and Excitement " seems to have covered a pretty 
wide field. The recommendation of sodium bromide, 
as an antidote to worry, was bad. We ought to be able 
to depend entirely on the natural powers. Hindoo con- 
templation likewise is a poor specific. The true specific 
is the complete mastery of one's self ; but this involves a 
good many conditions, — health, courage, patience, and 
a satisfactory view of the meaning of life. That was 
what gave Socrates his infinite calm. I am very sorry 

Miss C 's paper, which was excellent, did not arrive 

in time. It was posted on Friday morning. I hope 
she will still read it. Would you kindly give your 
papers to the secretary ten days before the date at 
which they are to be read? It takes some time to 
bring them here, to read, and to return them. 



196 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

I must correct a mistake, and apologize to your 
recording secretary for making it. He did not say that 
the whole class were socialists, or had adopted Marx's 
social theories ; he asserted this only of a certain indefi- 
nite portion. I am sincerely sorry for having misrep- 
resented him, and hope he will accept this apology. 

I am distressed to learn, from many quarters, that there 
are a few unruly members in the class who obstruct the 
work of the evening by making frivolous points of a par- 
liamentary sort, and who try to set up their own wills 
against the well-considered and wholesome rules of the 
house committee. I hope you will do your best to con- 
vince these brothers of the wrong they are doing the 
whole class, and induce them to behave in a thoughtful, 
kindly spirit. The house committee has my complete 
confidence, and has done its work admirably, deserving 
the gratitude of every one. Among the few malcontents 
there seems to prevail the notion that, somehow or other, 
they are being deprived of their rights, because they must 
leave the rooms at eleven o'clock. Now you all know 
that none of us have any rights of any sort in these rooms, 
but only privileges, and I am very sure that most of you 
are truly grateful for these. At my earnest request 
the generous gentlemen whose money supports the 
Educational Alliance gave these rooms for the use of 
the class ; and the conditions of the gift they, of course, 
must be allowed to determine. They may close and 
open the rooms when they please, and no one has any 
right whatever to complain. We ought to be grateful 
that they are open at all. The rooms were intrusted 
to me, and as the representatives of our kind benefactors 



THE UKDERLYING SPIRIT 197 

I appointed a house committee to take charge of the 
rooms with their contents and to regulate their use. 
Any complaint against them is a complaint against me 
and the gentlemen of the Alliance. I am glad to know 
that the efforts of the committee have been duly appre- 
ciated by all except a small number who have sent their 
names to me. Apart from these, I know that you all 
recognize the evil of late hours, and would not will- 
ingly encourage them. In any case, the regulations of 
the house committee must be observed without complaint 
or rebellion. We are all anxious to have the best use 
made of the rooms ; but we cannot sacrifice the good of 
all to the wishes of a few. If, however, any large major- 
ity of the class should desire to have the rooms kept 
open until midnight, and would state their reasons, I 
should be most happy to give these due consideration, 
I hope, however, there will be no further talk of rights 
which do not exist, and that the few malcontents will 
recognize their mistake and become quiet. 

There seems to be some trouble about the payment 
of the very small dues which the class voted to levy 
upon its members monthly. That is beyond measure 
surprising. In order that there may be no difficulty 
about so small a matter, I shall ask the treasurer to 
send me every month the names of those members 
who have not paid their dues, and I will pay these 
out of my own pocket, in order that there may be no 
suspensions. As far as I can see, the house committee 
and the treasurer have only done their duty. 

We must, in the future, exercise a little caution in 
the admission of new members. Now that we have our 



198 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

own rooms, we are exposed to dangers that did not exist 
before, and we must meet them with caution. Hence- 
forth, those who wish to become members will give their 
names, and their reasons for desiring admission, to the 
president of the Young Women's Club. The club, after 
considering these, will send them to me, and I will deal 
with them as may seem best. Of course we will exclude 
no one who desires to come in as a listener or as a pupil. 
We are a class, and not a club. 

I take these things into my own hands, or turn them 
over to committees, in order that the time of the class 
on Saturday evenings may not be wasted on business 
matters which really belong to the Alliance. The 
class will henceforth be able to devote its' whole time 
to its proper work, while the small matters of business 
will be managed by the house committee and the treas- 
urer. Only if there is any need to alter the amount of 
the monthly dues will the whole class be called upon 
to attend to business. It will be understood that the 
house committee is responsible to me, as representing 
the Alliance, and not to the class, which will make its 
suggestions to me. 

The matter of the Marx Circle does not, I am glad 
to think, concern the class as a whole, and, therefore, 
need not be considered here. I have written about it 
to those concerned. 

This is not, my very dear friends, the kind of letter I 
like to write to you, and I am very sorry it has had to be 
done. I sincerely trust it is the last of the sort, and 
that we can return to far more important subjects, — 
indeed, to our proper work. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 199 

I have been very proud of your ability to carry on 
that work by yourselves, and of the harmony that has 
prevailed among you. I trust nothing will occur to 
diminish that pride, but that the class will go on toward 
ever greater truth and righteousness. 

I am, as always. 

Most affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 

Hurricane, June 19, 1900. 

My dear Friends : I am glad to hear that you passed 
Saturday evening in a lively and interesting way. I am 
sorry when papers returned by me do not reach you in 
time ; but I do the best I can. You must remember it 
takes some time to read over papers, and that I cannot 
always do it the day they arrive. I am very, very busy. 
You should give me three or four days for each paper. 

Your letter this week greatly relieves me ; for infor- 
mation reaching me from many quarters was leaving 
me with the conviction that an unfriendly and caviling 
spirit was growing up in the class. I have now received 
several assurances that this has been exaggerated, and I 
am very glad. If we cannot attain social harmony in 
the class, how shall we attain it in the great world? 
The class ought to be the school for the world. 

I am afraid the name you have chosen for yourselves 
(" The Breadwinners' Institute ") will not answer. It 
is too vague. It might be a pathological institute, and 
then we should expect to find insane people in it. The 
word *' institute" by itself has nothing that suggests 



200 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

culture. You had perhaps better leave the subject for 
the present. 

I have already suggested that you should form your- 
selves mto knots or clubs for practical work. There is 
nothing invidious or exclusive in that. There are many 
kinds of work to be done, demanding as many kinds of 
talent. People who are already friends work best to- 
gether, and save much time otherwise wasted in the 
attempt to reach a mutual understanding. Let each 
little group of friends unite for some definite form of 
welldoing; then let all the groups meet from time to 
time for consultation and mutual aid. Let each name 
itself from its purpose, and not from any belief or prin- 
ciple. This is the only way to avoid idols and fanati- 
cism. Aristotle wisely said, " The form of a thing is its 
end or purpose." Let your purposes give form and 
name to your clubs. Eememl)er that variety in unity 
is the formula for high organization and high social 
institutions, and that names or placards expressive of 
creeds are mere idols and instruments of fanaticism. 

At certain decadent periods in the world's history 
men return to a childish dotage. Then they wish to 
do away with variety and revert to unity or sameness. 
If the dotage is of the intellectual sort, such as we find 
in the Buddhists, it demands nirvana^ utter unconscious- 
ness, in which alone multiplicity can be extinguished. 
If it is of the passionate, fanatical sort, such as occurred 
in the Frenchmen of the Revolution, it demands the 
extinction of all social differences and distinctions, and 
the introduction of universal equality. In either case, it 
demands the destruction of all that gives meaning and 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 201 

zest to life. Along with this dotage, strange to say, 
there goes another form of childishness which might 
seem almost incompatible with it, — the fondness for 
names or placards designative of creeds or sects. In 
old Israel, Greece, and Rome no one wore such placards. 
Only in the days of their decay did these arise. But 
not only in periods of decay do these things happen : 
they happen at all times among people whose minds 
are in a childish state. Even at the present day there 
is a large number of childish people who desire the 
abolition of all social distinctions, and take delight in 
placards. Such are the socialists, anarchists, and other 
sectarians. No truly great man or woman, no one who 
has attained spiritual freedom, ever belongs to a sect or 
wears a placard. What placard would fit Moses, Isaiah, 
Jesus, jEschylus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Csesar, 
Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, Kant, Washington, Emer- 
son, and the like of them. I hope, therefore, that in 
forming your clubs you will aim at variety in unity, and 
avoid all creed placards. All true and useful unity is 
variety of function determined by purpose. 

The adoption of creed placards is in every way degrad- 
ing, narrowing, and injurious. It builds up idolatrous 
walls of distinction between sect and sect ; it unbrothers 
men; it panders to prejudice and blunts the sense of 
truth. Both Catholics and Protestants call themselves 
Christians; but they distrust and hate each other. 
Christians and Muslims both call themselves religious 
men and worshipers of one God ; but their swords are 
at each other's throats. Socialists and anarchists spring 
from a common root ; yet they detest each other, and both 



202 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

detest the men wlio wear no placards. Let me beseech 
you, my dear friends, to avoid placards and sects as you 
would idolatry, superstition, or aught that beclouds the 
heaven of truth and right. I found in Emerson — that 
American of Americans — the other day, three lines that 
marvelously express one of my deepest convictions : 

Oh, what is Heaven but the fellowship 

Of minds that each can stand against the world 

By its own meek and incorruptible will? 

And again this : " The great man is he who in the midst 
of the crowd keeps, with perfect sweetness, the inde- 
pendence of solitude." How can any one keep such 
independence if he attaches himself to a sect and wears 
its badge? How can any one be great who fears to 
face the world by himself? 

The day has come, I think, for banishing all badges 
and placards and idols and sects : the day of moral free- 
dom, when each man's bounden duty is to stand for 
himself in all his incommunicable uniqueness, and to 
express to the world what he alone in all the world 
knows — himself. That alone is manhood ; that alone is 

nobility. Mr. C is entirely right in setting great store 

by systematic reading. Even good literature read care- 
fully but unsystematically is of small value. System is 
unity in variety, and the variety must not be neglected. 
Dante is good literature ; but the man who knows Dante 
only does not even know him. 

And now, good night. I am, my dear friends. 
Most affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 203 

Hurricane, June 26, 1900. 

My dear Friends: I am much rejoiced by your 
letter received to-day, and particularly by the account 
of the kindly reception given to the recent graduates. 
That was a most gracious thing to do, and I only 

regret that I was not there. Mr. D- , who is here 

and who takes to the woods like a deer, has regrets of 
the same sort. 

I was sorry to have to throw cold water on the name 
you proposed to give yourselves ; but it really was not 
designative enough. Had you put an adjective before 
"Institute," it might have done — Breadwinners' Cul- 
ture Institute or East Side Culture Institute. The 
breadwinners of Paris are bold enough to call their cul- 
ture institutes " Popular Universities," and they don't 
do such good or such connected work as we do. 

One fact is giving me great delight, and that is, that 
so many of you are beginning to devote yourselves to 
active work. There is no education like that. Indeed, 
any education that does not result in that is vain. The 
great defect in the ordinary college and university edu- 
cation is, that it stops with knowing and does not go 
on to loving and doing. It, therefore, never really gets 
appropriated; for knowing that does not pass into habit 
and act is never ours, but remains an external thing, — a 
mere useless accomplishment to be vain about. And 
vanity is a poor substitute for work. If every one of 
you would translate his and her knowledge into love 
and work, we should have an educative institute — call 
it anything you like — such as the world has never 
seen. We should not need to tell anybody that; the 



204 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

fact would speak for itself. Once more let me suggest 
the propriety of forming yourselves into little clubs for 
work. Let each group of friends form such a club with a 
definite end ; let it work quietly and steadily, and it will 
be productive of such noble joy and satisfaction that life 
will be transformed for you. Let your chief thought be 
for others and their needs and interests. It is Words- 
worth who says : 

The man whose eye 
Is ever on himself doth look on one, 
The least of Nature's works, one who might move 
The wise man to that scorn which wisdom holds 
Unlawful, ever. 

To live is to have interests ; to live nobly is to have 
broad or universal interests. There is no reason why 
our class should not be the very providence and inspi- 
ration of the whole East Side, if its members, bound 
together by love, will only forget their own troubles, 
and devote themselves to the spiritual elevation of 
their neighbors. That is the very essence of religion ; 
if you do that, it does not make so much difference 
what you believe. But you must never forget that 
the first of all spiritual blessings is freedom. In the 
moral world, to be means to be free. 

If you fully realize this, you will understand why 
certain doctrines which have shown themselves among 
some of you — doctrines fatal to all true liberty — have 
filled me with dismay, and made me act as I hate to 
have to act. It is the sense of freedom that imparts 
to us all true dignity and nobility, and makes it impos- 
sible for us to descend to envy, hatred, or meanness. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 205 

Therefore, in all that we do, our first care should be 
the safeguarding of moral liberty and its conditions. 

What I hear about Dr. H 's lecture is very satis- 
factory. Had he come as a mere theoretical partisan, I 
should have been sorry, for among truth seekers there 
should be no parties ; but since he came to tell you facts, 
and left you to draw your own conclusions, he was con- 
ferring a real benefit. I have never ventured to discuss 
current questions in the class, for the reason that it is 
almost impossible to do so without seeming to drag in 
the spirit of party. On the Boer question I entirely 

agree with Dr. H ; but that is a purely personal 

matter. Having no first-hand facts, I could not make 
propaganda for my opinion. And this reminds me of a 
little incident which happened shortly before I left town. 
At the close of the class one evening a young man came 
up and asked me to keep the members together for a few 
minutes and interest them in a recent strike. I flatly 
refused, — I fear with unnecessary brusqueness, — which 
perhaps laid me open to misinterpretation. I refused 
because our class, as such, has nothing to do with strikes. 
The day will come, I trust, when it will be possible 
for us to discuss, in a truly scientific way, the whole 
question of strikes, boycotts, etc. ; and then each of you 
will be in a position to determine for himself what his 
duty is in any particular case. You may, perhaps, come 
to find that you have a duty before the strike begins — 
to prevent it. We all recognize, I am sure, that strikes 
are things to be avoided if possible. Just think what 
a glorious thing it would be if we could convince em- 
ployers and employees that their best interests are bound 



206 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

up together ; if we could induce the former to do their 
best for the latter, and the latter to beware of making 
unreasonable or capricious demands on the former; in 
a word, if we could replace the spirit of jealousy by the 
spirit of love ! And why should we despair of doing 
this ? There is one thing that nothing in the world is 
proof against, and that is love. It is the universal sol- 
vent. Blessed are they that love ; for theirs is the king- 
dom of earth, — aye, and the kingdom of heaven. The 
people that love most will in the end rule the earth. 

I am quite unwell to-night; but I am very happy 
because I know that it is well with you, — that the 

spirit of love prevails among you. Professor B is 

here and sends you warmest greetings. I owe several 
of you letters. They shall be sent as soon as I am 
able to write them. 

Good night ! I am ever most affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 

Hurricane, July 3, 1900. 

My dear Friends : The account sent me of your 
last Saturday's discussion is very satisfactory. You 
seem to have taken up the subject seriously and to have 
brought out many sides of it. One conclusion arrived 
at seems to me deserving of deeper consideration. That 
one should always tell what he supposes to be the truth 
when he speaks is certain. But there are times when 
it is even inopportune to speak the truth, and what we 
think the truth is not always such. Any man who has 
reached middle life knows that he has had to abandon 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 207 

many things that earlier seemed to him true, and he is 
glad if he has not preached them and, so to speak, made 
himself responsible for them. One should be in no 
hurry to be an apostle of things about which there is 
no scientific agreement. There is enough to teach, 
about which there is no reasonable doubt. Why waste 
ourselves on the doubtful when the certain has not 
been impressed? There are many subjects about which 
young people, from the very nature of the case, are not 
fit to pronounce a judgment — things which require 
long experience and that temper of mind which comes 
only with years. They show good judgment in recog- 
nizing this, and waiting patiently till the experience and 
temper come. I am sometimes asked, " Why should I 
not preach socialism, since I believe in it with my whole 
heart and soul? " The answer is : "You have no right 
to believe in it in any such way. You have not had the 
necessary study and experience." I know you will find 
this a very hard saying. When I was twenty I thought 
I knew everything ; at sixty I am sure that I know very 
little. Inexperience is the supreme flatterer. Experi- 
ence insists upon the truth, which is not always indul- 
gent to our opinion of ourselves. How often has she 
trampled upon my most cherished beliefs and convicted 
me of rash judgment and vanity ! How many beliefs have 
I had to abandon because I had adopted them rashly 1 

July 4. 

While, therefore, you should use every effort to arrive 
at the truth, you should be very slow in asserting that 
you have found it, and in assuming the right to preach it 



208 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

to others. Preaching is altogether a poor business, any- 
how. It is the trade of sophists, rhetoricians, and dog- 
matists. Socrates, the supreme teacher, never preached : 
he had too much respect for the autonomy of his fellow- 
men for that. His power lay not in preaching or in 
imposing any particular set of doctrines, but in teach- 
ing men to do their own tliinking, which is the best 
service we can do them at any time. What is any par- 
ticular set of truths compared with the training of the 
faculty for all truth? Creeds make sects; truth makes 
men. I trust, therefore, you will endeavor to arrive at 
truth and to live it. Above all, cultivate the faculty 
for truth, the power of seeing things without veil or 
prejudice. 

Since I last wrote to you, two of your number have 
come here, much to my satisfaction and delight. They 
both seem to be enjoying themselves in this wild region. 

Mr. D and Mr. C have just gone down to the 

brook to bathe, while Mr. F is struggling away with 

compound fractions. 

This will be a short letter, the reason being that 
I have been quite unwell in the last few days. But I 
want to ask a favor of you. Will those of you who 
have been, or are, engaged in shops or factories give an 
account of your experience, in writing? A collection 
of such accounts would be most valuable, and might be 
published. 

And now good night. 

I am most affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 209 

Hurricane, July 11, 1900. 

My dear Friends : I am sorry I was not able to return 
the second paper that was due last Saturday ; but I am 
suffermg a great deal, and have a great deal of work. 
I send it along with this. 

I am glad that you seem to have agreed about the duty 
of children to parents, and its limitation. To draw the line 
of duty is by no means easy, and requires the utmost tact 
and fineness of nature. But you have the right ideas. 

Nothing in connection with the class gives me so much 

pleasure as the fact that so many of you are engaging 

in real missionary work. That is the test of worth, 

and the most potent form of education. It is work 

that makes us serious, takes away all pessimism, and 

makes life rich in meaning. How well we are educated 

is shown by the work we are able to do. It makes me 

young again to follow you in your work. I wish every 

one of you would do what he or she can. Nothing 

would so much insure the unity and harmony of our 

class, nothing would give life so much zest, nothing 

would so bring you into contact with reality, as practical 

work. There seem to be only two clubs in the class ; 

there ought to be a dozen, each with its sphere of work. 

The three boys who are here seem to be very happy. 

They are all working bravely. I wish you were all here. 

Mr. C has got into his tent to-day. I can see his light 

through the wet woods as he works away at " Parmen- 

ides." It is delightful to think that several more of 

you will be here in a few days. I am counting the days 

till they come. 

I am yours with much love, 

Thomas Davidson. 



210 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

Hurricane, July 18, 1900. 

My dear Friends : You must not be anxious on my 
account. I am, indeed, suffering a great deal; but I 
do not apprehend any danger. I do as much work as 
I can, and I don't allow myself to be depressed. The 
three " boys " who are here are a great comfort to me. 

By the bye, has just left for New York, to pass 

his " personal examination." 

Your discussion last Saturday seems to have touched 

on a good many important points. I heard Mr. D 's 

paper before it was sent, and made the same strictures 
on it that you do. I am greatly interested to find that 
you all seem to take the right view of the marital rela- 
tion, holding that it should be the union of two free 
beings, who remain free after marriage. If this were 
universally the case, we might expect to see marriage 
assume a new significance, and a new family life come 
into existence. It should always be remepibered that 
the relation between husband and wife ought to be 
love, which, where it exists, does away with the need 
of legal restrictions and makes all things easy. The 
question of rights and duties should never come up in 
a married life, nor, indeed, in family life at all. That 
life antedates the rise of law. In "King Lear" Cordelia 
is all wrong when she talks to her father about her bond. 
Indeed it is this talk that forms the collision in the play. 

Your discussions are excellent; but what is most 
encouraging is the practical work done by so many of 
the members of the class, work headed by the presi- 
dent. That work will tell in every way, and give us a 
good standing in the neighborhood, which is a great 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 211 

matter. We must overcome all prejudice and compel the 
confidence of our neighbors. Then they will work with 
us, and the leaven of your good work will leaven the 
whole mass. We must teach the people about us to look 
to us as their friends and advisers in all matters, to tell 
us their joys, their sorrows, their doubts and difficulties ; 
we must encourage them to make our rooms the center 
of their social life, and to abandon the saloons and the 
pool rooms. If we can do that, and our work begins to 
tell, we shall soon have a " settlement " which will de- 
serve the name, a real breadwinners' home and college. 

I read Mr. H 's paper last evening. From a liter- 
ary point of view it might be improved, but its spirit is 
excellent, and his offer is one that you ought to accept 
with avidity. 

I hope your excursion to Bronx Park came off and was 
a success. What fun it would be if you could make an 
excursion to Glenmore ! You must do that some day. 

Good night. I am yours with love, 

Thomas Davidson. 



Hurricane, July 24, 1900. 
My dear Friends : The regular class letter has not 

come to-day, but I have one from Mr. F which tells 

me about the good work you are doing in practical 
ways. You can hardly imagine how much I am cheered 

by such news. 

July 25. 

When I had written the above words Mr. F and 

Mr. D came up, and before they left, the evening 



212 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

was gone. We had a great talk. To-day I have Mr. 

H 's letter, and am glad to see that the discussion 

on friendship was so fruitful. You should read, in this 
connection, the two books on friendship in Aristotle's 
"Nicomachean Ethics." I would add, that nothing gives 
such dignity and zest to life as noble friendships. 

Mr. C 's proposition in regard to the roof garden 

of the Alliance Building is worth considering, especially 
the notion of conducting children's classes during the 
day. But you must not scatter your efforts too much, 
and you must endeavor to work in the spirit of our 
class. Better do a few things well than many things 
indifferently or ill. You may find it hard to work 
under a director whose ideas are different from ours. 
But you are certainly right to lose no opportunity of 
doing good. You might arrange with the director to 
have the entire control of certain classes. 

The account of the class's visit to Pelham, and the 
telegram they sent me thence, were most cheering. I 
am heartily sorry I was not there, and still more sorry 
that the excursion was not here. I hope the time will 
come when the whole class will be able to visit me 
among these glorious mountains. 

Mr. K came a few days ago and is doing good 

work. We expect Miss C and Miss Z and 

Mr. S to-morrow to supper. I am looking forward 

with much joy to their coming. They are now sailing 
up the Hudson. 

I am most affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 213 

Hurricane, August 2, 1900. 

Mi/ dear Friends : Everything seems to be going 
on smoothly with you and you seem to be doing such 
good work that I can only stand aside and admire. 
Every week brings me news of your noble efforts, and 
thus I am enabled to rise above my suffering, and to be 
happy in spite of it. Go on and prosper. 

There are eight members of the class here now, and 
they all seem to be enjoying themselves. The weather 
is glorious, and they bathe, fell trees, make roads, climb 
mountains, and do everything that can contribute to 
health. They are all looking strong and robust. We 
shall have a bonfire to-morrow night. 

Your discussion on love and friendship seems to have 
included many interesting points. Even if you do not 
arrive at definite conclusions, such discussions are most 
valuable, and I am watching the progress of them with 
the deepest interest. At the end of the summer you 
will be surprised to see what ground you have covered. 
You will have become aware of most of your social 
duties and gained motives to perform them. 

The " eight " send you their warmest greetings, and 

I am most affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 



Hurricane, August 8, 1900. 

Ml/ dear Friends : You will have to be content with 
a brief letter this week, as I am in poor condition. 

I am much interested in all the work that some of 
you are doing, and hope that, sooner or later, you will all 



214 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

be workers. I owe some of you letters, which shall be 
written as soon as I am able to do so. 

I am not sure that any of you struck the limits of the 
respect due to public opinion. If I were able, I should 

try to make them clear to you. Mr. H 's assertion 

that only in a socialistic state would the tyranny of 
public opinion be escaped is the exact opposite of the 
truth. In a socialistic state public opinion would be all 

powerful. Mr. H- is always sane except when he 

talks his hobby. 

I think of you every hour of the day, especially dur- 
ing the hot weather. I wish you were all here. Those 
who are here seem happy. 

I am very affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 

Hurricane, August 22, 1900. 

My dear Friends : I was most sorry not to be able 
to send you a letter last week, and I am not able to send 
you much this week. I am still in great suffering. 

It rejoices me greatly to hear of all the good work 
you are doing, and I take the deepest interest in your 
discussions. It grieves me that I have not been able to 
return all the essays sent to me ; but the truth is, I am 
doing all the work I can. Let no one suppose that his 
or her essay has been neglected. I owe several of you 
letters, much to my sorrow. They will be written as 
soon as I am able to do so. 

I am longing to return to you, and I shall probably 
do so in October, if not earlier. You will be glad to 



THE UNDERLYING SPIRIT 215 

hear that it is possible that I may get off without another 
operation, thougli I shall probably have to suffer for a 
long time. 

With love to you all, I am 

Yours for ever and ever, 

Thomas Davidson. 

Hurricane, August 29, 1900. 

My dear Friends : All that I hear about you — your 
essays, excursions, charitable work — is most encour- 
aging. I am looking forward to the time when I shall 
be able to rejoin you and work along with you. It seems 
probable that I shall have to undergo another operation, 
but then I hope to be well and keep well. 

I am much interested in Mr. E— 's essay, and sin- 
cerely trust that he will put in practice what he preaches. 
He might send it to me. 

I am glad you are laying out work for the winter. 
We must prove a center from which shall radiate whole- 
some influences of all sorts. 

I wish I were able to write you longer letters, for I 
have very much to say to you ; but I am hardly able to 
sit up for more than a few minutes at a time. But I 
trust I shall be able to make up for it in the winter. 

Miss K is not very strong and was unable to 

write her essay. 

I am most affectionately yours, 

Thomas Davidson. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE VITALITY OF THE IDEAL 

By the Editor i 

Mr. Davidson's history of the experiment in the edu- 
cation of the wage-earners broke off, it will be remem- 
bered, with the mention of his effort to bring the 
members of his class into friendly relations with a num- 
ber of wealthy and cultured people.^ This social feature 
of the work was continued. Mr. Davidson arranged a 
number of meetings in the large parlors of some of his 
friends, where the active members of the class were given 
the opportunity to meet individuals representing a phase 
of life different from the one with which they had been 
familiar on the East Side. In this way, also, a consid- 
erable number of persons unacquainted with the condi- 
tions of the people in the lower section of the city became 
interested in the work, and have since then remained 
its stanchest friends. As a result, some of them have 
established recreation rooms and kindergartens on the 
East Side, where the work has been carried on with the 

1 This chapter has been compiled from material furnished by mem- 
bers of the original class in History and Social Science. I have, 
however, drawn chiefly upon the full and admirably prepared account 
sent me by Mr. Morris II. Cohen, Chairman of the Executive Com- 
mittee that has guided the movement ever since Mr. Davidson's death. 
Much of what follows is given in his own words. 

2 See page 123. 

216 



THE VITALITY OF THE IDEAL 217 

assistance of some of the young women of Mr. David- 
son's class. 

In the spring of 1900 the board of trustees of the 
Educational Alliance voted the sum of six hundred 
dollars in order to make it possible for the class to 
establish itself in quarters of its own. A suite of rooms 
was rented and devoted exclusively to the work of the 
various classes. One of these rooms was set apart as 
a reading room and study. To cover the necessary 
expenses over and above the rent, the members of the 
class agreed to pay dues.^ The class also received from 
the friends of Mr. Davidson several valuable gifts in 
the form of furniture. The Educational Alliance, after 
several futile attempts to get Mr. Davidson to accept 
financial remuneration for his work, resolved to present 
the class with the sum of one hundred dollars for the 
purchase of books, as a slight token of its appreciation 
of the good work done. 

At about the same time (May, 1900) Mr. Davidson 
left the city for his summer home, there to gather 
strength for his future work. The members of the 
class and their friends arranged, as in the previous year, 
a farewell meeting, on which occasion they expressed 
their gratitude to, and appreciation of, Mr. Davidson as 
a friend and as a teacher. On the eve of his departure 
he called together some of the members in the new 
rooms, which had not yet been properly furnished, and 
there, by the light of a small oil lamp, showed how poems 
and stories might be read and interpreted to children. 

1 These dues were at first fixed at $1.20 per year, but have since 
been raised to 83. See Appendix B. 



218 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

This was done in anticipation of the establishment of 
classes for children of the neighborhood. Those who 
were assembled there on that evening will never forget 
the impression made on them by his rendering of well- 
known poems. 

For the summer work of the original class Mr. David- 
son, at the suggestion of some members, outlined a 
course of studies on practical ethical problems. Each 
problem was treated in two essays, written, the one by 
a young man, the other by a young woman of the class. 
These papers were sent to Mr. Davidson for criticism, 
and were afterwards read by the members at their regular 
Saturday evening meetings. A report of each meeting 
was sent to him every week, and he replied in the let- 
ters which are printed in this volume.^ This work was 
carried on during the entire summer, and proved of great 
profit to the members. 

During this summer, also, a number of the members 
organized classes for the children of the neighborhood. 
All of these children lived in crowded tenement houses, 
and their only opportunity for play and for the enjoy- 
ment of fresh air was on the pavements of the dusty 
and, owing to the congested traffic, unsafe streets. 
These conditions assumed even a graver character dur- 
ing the summer months when the school buildings 
were closed. The work was begun, therefore, primarily 
to relieve these intolerable hardships of the children, 
and, accordingly, consisted of games, calisthenic exer- 
cises, baths, and frequent outings to the great parks of 
the city. Subsequently, provision was made for the 
1 See Chapter V. 



THE VITALITY OF THE IDEAL 219 

sesthetic and moral training of the cliildren throughout 
the year in classes formed with the aim of cultivating 
the feelings of kindliness and sympathy. In these 
classes appropiiate stories and poems were read and dis- 
cussed ; the care of the body, habits of truth telling, of 
personal cleanliness, etc., were inculcated. [The extent 
to which this work has grown may be gleaned from the 
fact that on the last summer outing of 1903 as many as 
three hundred children were given the benefit of the 
country for a day. In this work the class received the 
support of generous friends.] 

Almost as soon as Mr. Davidson reached his summer 
home he was again attacked by the disease which preyed 
on him during the last ten years of his life. For three 
months he suffered the most agonizing pain, yet he 
refused to give up his daily lectures or to discontinue 
giving instruction to several members of the class who 
were with him. At last, finding that an operation could 
no longer be postponed, he went to Montreal to have 
it performed. It was unsuccessful; and there, in the 
hospital, he breathed his last on September 14, 1900. 
Mr. Davidson was attended on his journey to Montreal 
by one of the members of his class, and his last thoughts 
were for the continuation of its history, the only manu- 
script that he had taken with him. 

The news of the death of Mr. Davidson came as a 
great personal blow to the members of the class, who had 
all learned to love him as a father, but it did not make 
them lose courage, or faith in the work begun under his 
guidance. The members came together and resolved to 
use all their energy toward continuing the work along 



220 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

the lines laid down by him. Their two years' experience 
in self-government and self-initiative while Mr. David- 
son had been with them stood them in good stead. An 
educational committee was formed, consisting of the 
members who were teaching the several classes, and the 
direction of the educational work was intrusted to their 
hands. 

The committee began its work by providing for the 
completion of the " Faust " course through the reading 
and discussion of Mr. Davidson's manuscript lectures 
on the second part of " Faust." When this work was 
completed a biographico-historical course was outlined, 
suggested by Mr. Davidson's syllabus of lectures on 
" The Origins of Modern Thought." 

This course was planned to extend over several years. 
For the first year the subject was Hebrew Prophecy. 
The aim of this part of the course was to make the 
members acquainted with (1) the general character of 
Hebrew life and literature ; (2) the character of the 
Hebrew prophets and their place in Hebrew history ; 
and (3) the significance of the contribution of Hebrew 
prophecy to modern civilization. Selected portions of 
the Old Testament, with references to the works of 
Cornill, Driver, and Cheyne, were assigned every week 
for home reading, and, at the meetings, papers were read 
and discussed. In this course the class was helped by 
lectures from Rev. D. S. Schulman on Isaiah, Mr. D. S. 
Muzzey on Jeremiah and on Jesus, and Rev. Dr. K. 
Kohler on Deutero-Isaiah and Ezekiel. 

This historical course, however, was given only on 
alternate Saturday evenings. On the other Saturday 



THE VITALITY OF THE IDEAL 221 

evenings Mr. Percival Chubb generously volunteered to 
lead the class in the study of Tennyson's "In Memoriam." 
He continued to do so throughout the winter. This 
course was conducted along lines similar to those pur- 
sued by Mr. Davidson in his '' Faust "course. Mr. Chubb 
read and expounded the meaning of the poem, and the 
members read and discussed papers on the various ques- 
tions raised by the poem, such as the doctrine of evolu- 
tion, faith and knowledge, immortality, Tennyson's 
mysticism, etc. In the study of this poem the members 
made frequent use of Mr. Davidson's " Prolegomena to 
Tennyson's 'In Memoriam.' " 

During the summer of 1900 the class in philosophy 
continued its work with the study of Plato, An outline 
of the course, embracing the study of all the more impor- 
tant dialogues, was made by Mr. Davidson, and essays 
on the various topics were sent to him for his criticism, 
and were afterwards read at each week's meeting. A 
report of the discussion that followed was always sent 
to Mr, Davidson, and in reply he wrote weekly letters 
to the philosophy class. After his death this class con- 
tinued the study of Plato, and followed this up with a 
course in Aristotle's '' Metaphysics." The doctrines of 
these philosophers were considered with special reference 
to their bearing upon modern thought. In this work the 
class was assisted by several of Mr. Davidson's friends. 

To spread the influence of Thomas Davidson, and 
to give practical expression to his teachings by helping 
others, the educational committee instituted classes and 
study circles in various subjects. These classes were 
mainly of three kinds, — elementary, academic, and what 



222 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EAKNERS 

Mr. Davidson used to call classes in the culture sciences. 
The elementary courses were intended primarily for the 
people of the neighborhood, and included the study of 
English grammar and composition, United States history, 
geography, and arithmetic. The academic classes were 
intended to help young wage-earners who were anxious 
to continue their education, and included instruction in 
English rhetoric and literature, Latin, Hebrew, German, 
French, algebra, geometry, and physics. The culture 
courses, besides the Saturday evening and the philos- 
ophy class, included classes in Greek and Roman his- 
tory, with a section for the study of the Greek drama ; 
a class for the study of the history and theory of the fine 
arts ; and a class for the study of logic and the principles 
of science. In addition to these, classes were formed in 
voice culture, stenography, and free-hand drawing. 

By the summer of 1901 the original class in social 
and historic science had thus ceased to be a mere class 
and had become an ethical fellowship, conducting an 
educational institution of considerable magnitude.^ An 
executive committee was elected by the members to take 
charge of the administrative work. Monthly meetings 
were instituted to enable the members to come together 

1 The movement that Mr. Davidson initiated is now knov^n oflBcially 
as "Branch B of the Educational Alliance." However, the young 
men and women who constitute the movement, out of loyalty to their 
teacher and in order to emphasize the distinctiveness of their aim 
and ideals, have come to designate themselves "The Thomas David- 
son Society." The Educational Alliance has been most liberal in its 
dealings with the Society, giving it an entirely free hand. Its work 
during the past four years has been planned, organized, and adminis- 
tered wholly by an executive committee composed of seven of its own 
members. 



THE VITALITY OF THE IDEAL 223 

and have free and informal discussions of the affairs of the 
society, and also to promote the spirit of friendship by 
making them feel that they belonged to a group of active 
workers united by a noble ideal. To enable the members 
to get a more comprehensive view of the work, the sum- 
mer of 1901 was devoted to a comparative study of modern 
efforts to spread culture among the masses of the people. 

During the academic year of 1901-02 the work 
was continued along the same lines. The Saturday 
evening class took up, on alternate Saturday evenings, 
the study of Greek thought and civilization, and the 
study of Shakespeare's " Julius Caesar." In connection 
with the latter work various papers were presented, 
bringing out the part played by the Roman element 
in civilization. The class was helped by a lecture on 
" Socrates and Intellectual Piety " by Mr. D. S. Muzzey, 
and one on Shakespeare by Mr. Percival Chubb. The 
philosophy class continued its work in the study of 
Aristotle's psychology, ethics, politics, and poetics. It 
also had the good fortune to hear Professor Royce who 
kindly came from Harvard to lecture to it on " Recent 
Conceptions of the Infinite." 

The efforts of the new executive committee were 
directed toward introducing more system into the work 
of the various classes and establishing them on a more 
permanent basis. A new department, also, was organ- 
ized, namely, a club department. This was brought 
about almost accidentally. In the spring of 1901 one 
of the members of the society organized a number of 
working boys who used to congregate in the neigh- 
boring street into a club, which, under his influence, 



224 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

developed into a Junior Thomas Davidson Club. This 
work was so eminently effective that it encouraged other 
members to start similar organizations, so that there are 
now thirteen of these clubs, — nine for boys, three for 
girls, and one for boys and girls, — with an aggregate 
membership of nearly three hundred. 

The work of these clubs is very important, not only 
because it reaches a class of people who woiild not be 
otherwise attracted to the society, but also because it 
enables the club leader, who acts in the capacity of a 
personal friend to the club members, to take up the 
actual problems which face young wage-earnere — ques- 
tions of greater personal interest and of more vital impor- 
tance than those that can be taken up by one who is 
merely the teacher of a class. 

The realization of the importance of this kind of 
educational work led several members of the society to 
organize a class for the study of the problems of club 
leading. Some of the papers read at the meetings of 
this class have since been published. 

In the year 190 2. a class was formed for the study of 
the principles of evolution. The first part of this course, 
dealing with organic evolution, was begun in Februar}^ 
1902 ; the second part, dealing with the evolution of 
social institutions, was taken up the following year. 
This class has been under the leadership of two of the 
members of the original class, one of whom had made 
a specialty of biology, the, other of history. In connec- 
tion with this class frequent meetings were held in the 
American Museum of Natural History, where the remains 
of primitive peoples were studied at first hand. 



THE VITALITY OF THE IDEAL 225 

A most important advance was made in the fall of 
1902 by the organization of the various academic classes 
into a regular evening high school course. This course 
was instituted in order to afford young wage-earners, 
especially those who had just left the elementary public 
schools, the opportunity of a systematic course of study 
which would provide mental discipline and at the same 
time lay the foundations of a liberal education. As these 
students are already occupied in earning their livelihood, 
there is no attempt to make the studies bear directly on 
their wage-earning capacity. The course is primarily a 
culture course, intended to make the pupils broad minded, 
able and willing to take an intelligent and active inter- 
est in the various important questions of life. For this 
reason history, literature, civics, ethics, and economics 
are emphasized, though physical science, mathematics, 
and language training are by no means neglected. It 
was found that the classes in the culture sciences were 
not so successful as they might be were the pupils who 
attended them possessed of a more thorough preliminary 
training. One of the motives, therefore, for instituting 
the high-school course was to supply the necessary edu- 
cation which would prepare the young wage-earner for 
the more advanced courses outlined by Mr. Davidson 
in his plan for a Breadwinners' College.^ 

The reasons for the organization of the Davidson High 
School are stated as follows in the Fourth Annual Report 
of the chairman of the executive committee. 

It is almost universally recognized that the age at which the 
vast majority of our people leave school is a most critical one in 

1 See pp. 76 seq. 



226 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

every one's life. It is the time when we cease to be children and 
become young men and young women. The change which comes 
at this time is not merely a physical one, it is also a mental and 
moral transformation. It is a time when, for good or for evil, we 
become conscious of power and ambition; it is preeminently the 
period of character formation. Yet according to the latest report 
of the United States Bureau of Education more than ninety per 
cent of our young people are at this period of their lives thrown 
into the world with its many difficulties and temptations, without 
any further guidance from the school. Education for the great 
many stops just when it becomes most essential. 

Now it is obvious that the kind of education needed by young 
people at this stage of life cannot be the merely intellectual and 
formal kind to which the public schools are restricted. What is 
needed is some agency which will combine the best features of the 
social settlement with those of the school — an institution which 
will not only train the intellect but will exercise a personal influ- 
ence in the formation of character by appealing to the whole soul. 
Such, at any rate, has been the direction in which our efforts have 
been aimed. The pupils of our classes are also members of our 
clubs and share with us the responsibilities as well as the privi- 
leges of our home. The principal and the instructors, who have 
been selected from among the teachers of the various universities, 
colleges, and public schools of the city, all give their services gratis, 
and this enables them to exert a far greater personal influence 
than the ordinary paid instructor.^ In this they reenforce the 
work of our club leaders. 

The practical neighborhood work, which was begun 
in the early part of 1900 by the young men's club,^ has 
been continued on a larger and more effective scale. In 

1 With the growth of the educational activities of the Thomas 
Davidson Society, continually increasing demands have been made 
on the time of the principal in charge of this branch of the work, 
upon whom devolves all clerical labor connected therewith, and, since 
the fall of 1903, he has received a salary of six hundred dollars per 
annum. 2 gee pp. 121 seq. 



THE VITALITY OF THE IDEAL 22T 

tins the members have had the advantage of working 
among their own people. The method and results of 
work of this sort are not of the kind of which public re- 
port can easily be made. Suffice it to mention that many- 
young men and women of the neighborhood have been 
stimulated to take an interest in higher things through 
the personal efforts of the members of the Thomas David- 
son Society. The following extract from the Annual 
Report of the United Hebrew Charities, October, 1902, 
will illustrate the nature of some of this work : 

The experiment was tried during the past year of interesting 
the young men and women of the Thomas Davidson Society in the 
sons and daughters of our applicants, and through them influ- 
encing the general family conditions. The plan was attractive 
because the club members, earnest young men and women, and 
possessed of more than ordinary intelligence and education, were, 
nevertheless, in many instances living in the same neighborhood, 
and were part of the same social atmosphere as our applicants, 
and for this reason better able to judge of their needs and abilities. 
These visitors made no mention of the fact that they were con- 
nected with our society. They gave no relief. Their entire aim 
was to establish a sense of comradeship with the young men and 
women assigned to them, and then, indirectly and without the 
beneficiaries' consciousness, to interest them in educational and 
other pursuits; to help them obtain employment if necessary; to 
elevate the parents through the children ; and in general to bring 
a wider horizon into lives that are of necessity sordid and narrow. 
While the experiment is novel and only in its infancy, it has 
demonstrated its feasibility and efficacy, and warrants the belief 
that a concerted effort should be made to interest similar organi- 
zations in our work. 

A Davidson memorial meeting is held every year in 
October. At these meetings the members and their 



228 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

friends recall the sterling and inspiring qualities of 
Thomas Davidson, and the views for which he stood. 
Annual meetings in celebration of the founding of the 
class are held in January, and have a similar object. 
These meetings have proved of great value to the 
members. The sentiment of the class was voiced in 
the Third Annual Report of the chairman of the exec- 
utive committee. 

Our colleges teach science and cultivate scholarship, but they 
do not create any large ideal or enthusiasm in the student's soul. 
They leave that to the church. The church does aim to build up 
a high ideal in the souls of its members, but unfortunately it is an 
ideal which has but little influence on the actual course of life ; 
chiefly because it is often based on a supernatural view of the 
world that is no longer tenable. Our own little society aims to 
combine the advantages of the college and the church with those 
of the home. We form a school in so far as we help one another 
to master the world's wisdom and learning; a church in so far as 
we encourage one another to form and to live up to the highest 
ideals and to stand by one another in the hour of spiritual need ; 
and we form a home in so far as we try to cultivate among our- 
selves those deeper cordial relations which, unfortunately, are sel- 
dom found outside of the home. In Mr. Davidson's later writings 
the idea of a Breadwinners' College is predominant. But those 
who knew him more intimately know that deeper than the idea 
of instruction or mere culture for the breadwinners was the idea 
of " a society with ideal relations and aims " ; a society of indi- 
viduals banded together in order to help one another to realize 
the highest life; a society of apostles who will spread love and 
righteousness by deed as well as by word. 

What have we done to realize this, our real end? 

It is difficult to answer this question because it is difficult to 
measure moral elevation. And it is more difficult for a member 
of our society to give this judgment, for he cannot impartially 



THE VITALITY OF THE IDEAL 229 

observe the progress it has made. But those who have known 
many of our members before they joined our society must admit 
that its high moral standard has had a wonderful effect in raising 
and chastening the characters of our members, and of all those 
who came in contact with our work. This has been accomplished 
through adherence to Thomas Davidson's ideal of altruistic social 
service. Our society offers no advantage to members except the 
opportunity of self-sacrijficing work for others — not in the form 
of material assistance, which often pauperizes, but in the form of 
friendly aid, which helps to make possible the higher life of plain 
living and high thinking. 

The work of the Thomas Davidson Society naturally 
falls in two divisions : the first including' the systematic 
instruction offered in the Thomas Davidson Schools, 
the second including the practical or communal work of 
its members. The following Summary gives a fair idea 
of its various activities at the present time. 

L THE THOMAS DAVIDSON SCHOOLS 

1. The Elementary Course. The elementary course 
now comprises classes in English (language, grammar, 
and composition), arithmetic, geography, and United 
States history. English takes up four hours per week, 
arithmetic two, the other subjects one each. There are 
two grades, A and B, so that the whole course is a two- 
year one. The total enrollment in these classes during- 
the past year was two hundred. 

An examination of the record of attendance would 
show some decline as the year advanced. This, how- 
ever, is no indication of any dissatisfaction on the part 
of the pupils. Many of those who have ceased to attend 



230 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

the classes have moved away from the district ; others 
are still members of the various clubs, but their daily 
work does not allow them to spend very much time in 
study. When a pupil has to work overtime for several 
weeks in his daily occupation he frequently finds it im- 
possible to keep up with the work of his class and drops 
out. Still the attendance at these classes has been bet- 
ter than at those of any public evening school in the 
city of New York. 

2. The Academic or High School Course. This work 
was organized in September, 1902, and a curriculum 
adopted that was more or less loosely patterned after 
that of the usual high school. As originally planned, 
the classes were to meet from eight to nine, and from 
nine to ten every evening in the week except Saturday 
and Sunday. This would have enabled any pupil who 
could find the time to take all the courses, to complete 
the curriculum in three years. The first year's work, 
however, showed that this was expecting too much from 
boys and girls most of whom are compelled to spend 
their days in hard work. Accordingly, this year, the 
Friday evening classes have been omitted, and a com- 
mittee is now engaged in changing the curriculum to a 
four-year course with eight hours of recitations a week, 
and so arranging it that any one who is unable to find 
time to attend all the classes may, by proper selection, 
complete the course in a longer period of time. On the 
Friday evenings thus set free a course of lectures on 
practical ethical problems has been given by the teachers 
of the school and by invited lecturers. These Friday 
evening meetings have also served as general assemblies 



THE VITALITY OF THE IDEAL 231 

for all of the pupils of the school, and they have proved 
so successful that it has been decided to make them a 
permanent feature. 

In addition to the regular work there are special 
classes in elocution and free-hand drawing open to all 
of the pupils. And it is planned, if adequate quarters 
can be secured, to add a full manual training depart- 
ment, with courses, also, in domestic science for the 
young women. 

The success of this work during the past two years 
in the face of many almost insuperable difficulties has 
been most encouraging. The pupils have been keenly 
interested in their studies, and have made a very credit- 
able showing in their examinations. The fact that the 
school aims primarily at training in citizenship makes 
its curriculum and its method of instruction somewhat 
different from the method and curriculum of the ordi- 
nary high school, which is a college preparatory. It is 
difficult to describe the difference. The whole plan is 
still in the experimental stage. But the following 
points are worthy of note: (1) The effort is continually 
made to adapt the studies to the actual life problems 
which confront the pupils, and thus to help them to 
face these problems with a wider and saner outlook 
upon life- This was particularly noticeable in the work 
done in the classes in history. So in the class in litera- 
ture, " Silas Marner," for example, was studied primarily 
from the ethical standpoint. In the physiology class 
the work was made to bear directly on the hygienic 
conditions of the East Side homes, and so on. (2) The 
personal relations existing between teacher and pupil 



232 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

are peculiarly intimate. Teachers frequently invite 
their pupils to their homes, and in this way a close bond 
of friendship has arisen between them and their pupils, 
which gives them greater power and greater opportunity 
for usefulness, and at the same time brings to all alike 
that inspiration without which the work would be alto- 
gether impossible. (3) The work of the school proper 
is intimately connected with that of the various clubs 
presently to be described. All the pupils are urged to 
become members of existing clubs, or to organize new 
clubs of their own. In this way the bonds that connect 
the school work with the practical issues of life are 
further strengthened, and at the same time the commu- 
nal work of the society is kept on a higher and saner 
plane. 

The pupils of the school seem fully to appreciate what 
is being done for them, and are in their turn resolved to 
do their share in carrjdng forward the work of Thomas 
Davidson. Of their own accord they have organized 
themselves into two clubs in order "to promote the 
right spirit among the pupils of the school, to cooper- 
ate with the teachers and the principal, and to aid the 
Thomas Davidson Society in its philanthropic efforts." 
This resolution they have carried into effect, using their 
dues to buy stationery for the school, gladly giving their 
services in keeping class records and in other forms of 
clerical assistance, etc. And many of the more advanced 
students have freely given of their time in tutoring and 
coaching others still less favored than themselves. 

3. The Culture Classes. These classes form the nu- 
cleus which Mr. Davidson hoped might some day develop 



THE VITALITY OF THE IDEAL 233 

into a Breadwinners' College. It must be admitted that 
during the past few years this department has not made 
as much progress as the others. This is partly owing 
to the fact that many of these young men and young 
women, whose days, from earliest recollection, have all 
been spent in hard and exacting toil, are not properly 
prepared to take up the subjects outlined by Mr. David- 
son in his essay on " The Educational Problems of the 
Twentieth Century." ^ It is also partly due to the fact 
that since Mr. Davidson's death the members of his 
class have been mainly thrown on their own resources, 
and it is not to be expected that, however earnest and 
otherwise capable, they should be able, with their youth 
and limited training and experience, to conduct work 
along such lines. They have therefore wisely devoted 
their energies mainly to the schools and to the develop- 
ment of the club work. It should be added, however, 
that all of this work is conducted primarily with the aim 
of preparing wage-earners for the Breadwinners' College. 
During the past year the original class in social and 
historic science continued its Saturday evening meet- 
ings and completed the historical course outlined in 
1900, studying the Renaissance and the development of 
modern ideals. The nucleus of this work was a course 
of ten lectures by Mr. David S. Muzzey. The rest of 
the time was taken up with the reading and discussion 
of papers by the members on such topics as monasticism, 
the history of the poor laws, the democratic ideal in 
modern literature, etc. For next year two courses are 
planned, for alternate Saturday evenings, one on "Types 
1 See pp. 76 seq. 



234 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

of Character in Literature (mainly Shakespearean)," 
and one on " The Social Problems of the Nineteenth 
Century." 

The class in philosophy has continued its meetings, 
taking up the study of Kant. In April it decided to 
meet fortnightly, and another class was started for be- 
ginners, following the plan drawn by Mr. Davidson for 
the original class. The class in the study of the book 
of Job, attended mainly by the younger members, also 
belongs in this group. 

II. COMMUNAL ACTIVITIES 

1. Neighhorhood Work. As a part of the work of the 
society we may count the missionary work done by its 
members in other institutions. Thus a number of them 
founded the Eron Society, now the People's Culture 
Club, with a membership of over two hundred. Some 
of them are leading clubs in other institutions, or doing 
work in connection with various civic bodies, such as 
the East Side Civic Club, the Down Town Ethical 
Club, the Educational League, and other organizations. 

Mention should also be made of the " friendly visit- 
ing " done by members of the society in connection with 
the United Hebrew Charities. In the nature of things 
progress in work of this sort is very slow from the point 
of view of obvious results. Still the efforts that the 
Friendly Visitors have made cannot, in the end, help 
exerting a good influence. On the East Side, as well 
as in a great many other communities, there is now tak- 
ing place a general exodus from the churches. Here it 



THE VITALITY OF THE IDEAL 235 

takes a very painful and tragic aspect, because it breaks 
up the family life. Most of the people who have left 
the synagogue are very young, and as yet there is noth- 
ing to take the place of the spiritual influence which it 
exerted. The various social settlements do not seem 
capable of doing it. The Thomas Davidson Society has 
been making the effort to devote itself to things spirit- 
ual without becoming sectarian, seeking to lay the 
proper emphasis on the value of the really earnest life. 
2. The Junior Clubs. The motive that led to the 
establishment of these clubs was the desire of some of 
the members of the original class to pay a portion 
of their debt of gratitude to Mr. Davidson by attempt- 
ing, as far as lay in their power, to do for others what 
he had done for them. These clubs are accordingly 
modeled after the Thomas Davidson Society. They are 
in the main self-governing bodies, the leaders serving in 
the capacity of older and more experienced friends as 
well as of teachers. During the week most of the mem- 
bers of the clubs attend either the elementary or the high 
school classes. The special programmes of the different 
clubs vary according to the ability and the interests of 
the members. Thus one club leader, following the 
course taken by Mr. Davidson, is making Henderson's 
"Social Elements" the basis of his work; another is 
attempting to develop types of heroism, making use 
of Frederic Harrison's "New Calendar of Great Men" ; 
one club is studying the various departments of the 
city government and the social conditions of the East 
Side ; another has been specially interested in the devel- 
opment of certain industries ; and one, whose members 



236 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

have had little schooling, has been studying Longfel- 
low's poems. The girls' clubs are similarly organized. 
In all of these clubs selected poems are learned by 
heart and recited. 

The weekly meeting is, however, by no means the 
most important feature in the life of these clubs. They 
are, it must be remembered, primarily groups of friends 
organized for mutual helpfulness. Problems of daily 
life are freely discussed with the club leader. It must 
be borne in mind that the parents of most of these boys 
and girls are strangers in this land, and their past life 
and Talmudic creed make them incapable of appreciat- 
ing the peculiar problems that confront their own chil- 
dren. This circumstance gives the club leader peculiar 
power and an exceptional opportunity. The members 
of the clubs are always ready to aid one another by all 
means in their power, giving assistance with the daily 
lessons, helping any that may be out of work to find 
employment, visiting any that are sick, and in general 
standing by one another in the hour of need. These 
clubs also afford a great deal of healthful enjoyment to 
their members in the form of monthly entertainments, 
outdoor games, and excursions to the museums and 
parks in and about New York City. In the summer of 
1903 the boys' clubs established a summer camp on 
Staten Island in order to afford those members whose 
occupations deprive them of longer vacations the oppor- 
tunity of spending Sundays and holidays away from the 
crowded city. 

These clubs have shown their loyalty to the parent 
society in their readiness to cooperate in its work. Thus 



THE VITALITY OF THE IDEAL 237 

one of them has given two performances of " Julius 
Csesar " and turned over the proceeds, upward of one 
hundred dollars, to the Children's Friends Society ; an- 
other gave a theater benefit and used the proceeds to 
establish the summer home, which they afterward 
opened to all the other clubs. Some of the members of 
the junior clubs have been helping in the friendly visit- 
ing, and others have been giving assistance in the chil- 
dren's work. And, in general, the spirit they have 
shown gives evidence that the ranks of the original 
Thomas Davidson Society will be kept recruited from 
the membership of the junior clubs. 

The work of the Thomas Davidson Society has been 
carried on in the past few years in the face of many 
difficulties, among which the most serious have been : 

1. The lack of funds and, consequently, of proper 
facilities for the work. Though some of the members 
have of late been relatively successful from a financial 
standpoint, they are not in a position to make any mate- 
rial contributions to the society, since, for the most part, 
they have parents or others dependent on them. The 
great majority are young people who are still struggling 
to get started, and some are not yet financially inde- 
pendent of their parents. The Educational Alliance has 
been more than generous in its support of the work. It 
has, however, other interests to look after that it cannot 
sacrifice for this work, and a considerable independent 
endowment is much to be desired. 2. Lack of decent 
rooms. The house that is now occupied by the Thomas 
Davidson Society offers many obstacles to its work. 



238 EDUCATION OF THE WAGE-EARNERS 

The rooms are few and small and the ceilings so low 
that proper ventilation is impossible. The sanitary 
arrangements are far from perfect. That the society 
has been able to continue its work in spite of its 
quarters is a significant and encouraging fact. 3. Lack 
of a leader. And, at the present time, what the society 
most needs is a leader who shall supply, as far as that 
may be possible, the place that Mr. Davidson filled; 
a wise leader, with a broad outlook upon life and life's 
problems, who, with untiring zeal and self-sacrificing 
devotion, shall spend himself in this work, and shall 
guide and direct and concentrate the energies and the 
efforts of this band of earnest, truth-seeking wage- 
earners that Mr. Davidson gathered together. 

As one looks back upon the work of the Thomas 
Davidson Society, and particularly upon that which it 
has accomplished, mainly through its own efforts, since 
the death of Mr. Davidson, one feels that it is signifi- 
cant not so much for the actual form that the society's 
activities have taken as, rather, for the method of its 
work and the spirit in which that work has been done. 
It is this that gives the movement its unique and dis- 
tinctive character. And this is traceable directly to 
Mr. Davidson's inspiration. He worked from the first 
with and for individuals, and not simply with a class, 
and the spirit of friendly cooperation became contagious ; 
he made the young men and young women work and 
work hard for their results, and in so doing appealed 
continually to what was most heroic and ideal in their 
aspirations. This spirit has prevailed in all the work 



THE VITALITY OF THE IDEAL 239 

that has been done, and in the case of many members 
of the society the result has been nothing less than a 
complete transformation of character. And, unfinished 
as the story is, the work that has been actually accom- 
plished speaks volumes not only for the force of Mr. 
Davidson's personality and, it must in fairness be added, 
for the character of these wage-earners themselves, but 
also for the vitality of the ideal that has guided them 
and him in all that has been done. 



APPENDICES 



241 



APPENDIX A 



243 






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APPENDIX B 



Receipts and Expenditures op the Thomas Davidson Society 
FOK the Year ending June 30, 1904 



Receipts 

From the Educational Alliance .... 
Dues of members of Thomas Davidson Society 
Dues of pupils of the Thomas Davidson schools . 
Voluntary contributions of the clubs 
Contributions of members and friends to book fund 
From Mr. S. Fels . 



Total 



$2193.48 
297.31 
98.30 
43.84 
20.15 
37.00 

12690.08 



Expenditures 

Rent $878.32 

Coal and gas 238.20 



Furniture, fixtures, and repairs 
Janitor service, cleaning, etc. . 
Text-books and reference books 
Printing and stationery . 

Postage 

Piano rental .... 
For social meetings, etc. . 
Sundries and incidentals . 
Salary of principal . 
Expenses of lectures 




Total $2671.52 



In addition, mention should be made of the fact that the members of the 
Thomas Davidson Society and of the Junior Clubs raised among them- 
selves $.300 for the use of the cottage committee in connection with the 
society's summer camp, and $150 for the use of the Children's Friends 
Society in defraying the expenses of the summer Sunday outings for 
children. 

247 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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